Twitter's bird logo gets a makeover

As of Wednesday, Twitter is replacing its old bird logo (and lower-case "t") with a sleeker new bird, left.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Twitter on Wednesday updated its little blue bird logo
• The change prompted a flurry of jokes ... on Twitter, of course

(CNN) -- Twitter is giving users the bird. A cute, little, upwardly mobile bird.

The social-networking company wants to be universally known by a new streamlined bird logo, replacing the scruffier bird that had symbolized Twitter since ... well, way back in 2010.

"Starting today you'll begin to notice a simplified Twitter bird," Twitter said in a blog post Wednesday. "From now on, this bird will be the universally recognizable symbol of Twitter. (Twitter is the bird, the bird is Twitter.) There's no longer a need for text, bubbled typefaces, or a lowercase "t" to represent Twitter."

Twitter gave no reason for the refreshed bird, which is less chubby, has fewer feathers and is angled more towards the sky than its predecessor. But jokesters in the Twittersphere, where #twitterbird was trending Wednesday, were only too happy to offer some.

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"About time we get a simplified #twitterbird That last one was so not 140 characters!" wrote MeetZoe.

"Twitter is too young to be changing its logo. Although, now the bird is soaring," added Andrew Mager.

"The new #twitterbird is the Situation of social media icons. He's all "Gym, Tweet, Laundry. What, Facebook?! Want some?!" said Sam Killermann.

Last year's short-lived Twitter darling, the Bronx Zoo's Cobra, offered this: "Twitter changed its little blue bird logo! He still looks delicious...nice, I mean nice."

And Adam McCombs may have spoken for many users when he tweeted, "Maybe @twitter should spend more time working on performance instead of playing with their logo."

In its post, Twitter says the new bird is "crafted purely from three sets of overlapping circles — similar to how your networks, interests and ideas connect and intersect with peers and friends." In rather flowery rhetoric, the post goes on to say, "Whether soaring high above the Earth to take in a broad view, or flocking with other birds to achieve a common purpose, a bird in flight is the ultimate representation of freedom, hope and limitless possibility."

The company on Wednesday was urging developers to switch to the new logo -- although the Twitter icon in Apple's App Store was still showing the old bird.