The default profile picture for lazy people that haven’t uploaded their own photo for their Twitter profile is an egg. Maybe I’m a little dense, but I never realized the reason for the egg was – according to Twitter itself – “a playful reference to how eggs hatch into birds.” Birds, of course, “tweet” which is what Twitter users do. I get it now. Cute (I guess).
Anyway, that’s done. The egg is gone.
Twitter says they’re making the change, in part, because Twitter Trolls often create accounts just to harass people and don’t take the time to personalize their accounts. Thus, the default egg.
“This has created an association between the default egg profile photo and negative behavior, which isn’t fair to people who are still new to Twitter and haven’t yet personalized their profile photo,” said the Twitter folks in a blog post.
After looking at tons of designs, they opted for – wait for it – a silhouette of a person. Even then, they had to refine the silhouette so it didn’t appear more male or female since they wanted one image. Here’s the result:
Meh.
In case you’re wondering, it’s not a cyclops with a frown.
Here’s another thing you may not know. It’s not the first time Twitter has changed the default image. It’s evolved over time.
So if you’re worried about harassment on Twitter, your worries are over! Changing the egg to a person will stop it, right? [ Sarcasm ]
Paul Dughi.com 