I started following @ivegotzooms on Twitter probably around December of 2008. Earlier today, for the first time since I can remember, I noticed that she’s changed her avatar.
I’m not sure how I feel about that.
Maybe I’m just getting old, or too set in my ways. Maybe I’m afraid of change or the things I can’t control. But whatever. I like it when my imaginary friends find a good, easily recognizable avatar and stick with it for the long haul. Think of @trelvix, @zolora (or whatever she’s calling herself this week), @sween or @gordonshumway.
Or, to get even more iconic, what about @kellydeal, @texburgher or @luckyshirt?
It’s more than a brand. It’s a comfort. It’s part of their identity. Your identity. My identity.
Remember @ivegotzooms’ old one? It was an old black-and-white shot of a cat in a circle. Simple enough, but at 73 pixels square, it had that sort of man-in-the-moon quality. You could imagine it was a top-down shot of a cup of coffee, or a profile of a woman’s face in the shadows. It was mercurial. It was interesting. It was unique. It was her.
Of course, this isn’t the first time this has happened. It killed me when @abigvictory first changed from her classic “Slapshot” avatar, but on second thought I’ve since become incredibly attached to the black-and-white camera image she seems to have finally settled on. And when @fireland switched from his old orange-hued photo to the current black-and-white graphic, I thought it was an absolute travesty. But, then again, just now it took me a solid minute to remember what his old avatar was.
So maybe it’s not the end of the world, after all. Maybe it’s OK for avatars to change. Just, you know … be gentle.
I’ve even changed mine, though not in a long while. The evolution of my Twitter avatar is in the image above. Feel free to share yours.
Apparently I was a year too early on this whole Twitter avatar meme.
