Twitter is replacing one of its most iconic features, with the traditional egg avatar being killed off.
A mainstay since 2010, the micro blogging site’s egg avatar was originally intended as “a playful way to reference how eggs hatch into birds that send out all the tweets your see on Twitter,” according to the company.
Now, however, it’s being killed off, but not for the reasons you might expect.
According to Twitter, the move is due to the egg’s current association with online abuse and trolling.
“We’ve noticed patterns of behaviour with accounts that are created only to harass others – often they don’t take the time to personalise their accounts,” Twitter stated in an official blog post.
“This has created an association between the default egg profile photo and negative behaviour, which isn’t fair to people who are still new to Twitter and haven’t yet personalised their profile photo.”
Related: The Twitter feature that’s great for Game of Thrones fans
Despite Twitter’s intentions, it’s unclear how the company hopes the move will help stem the flow of online abuse.
With the egg avatar gone, it’s being replaced with the silhouette of a human head and shoulders, reverting to the default image the company used when founded in 2006.
Users will still be able to use this anonymous default profile picture, giving those with trolling intentions a wall to hide behind.
https://twitter.com/statuses/847851922035949568
Inevitably, Twitter users haven’t taken the change lightly, with many already using the social network to bash the latest updates.
“Evil has a new face,” one user wrote while another chimed in “A good change would be not to allow default photos/anonymous accounts. Time to up standards on @Twitter.”
WATCH: Intel Processors Explained
Do you think the errant eggs with solve Twitter’s troll problem? Let us know below.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
