Twitter has retired its iconic egg default profile photo. The firm swapped the image for a human silhouette to encourage users to upload a picture of themselves and combat abuse on the site.

Today, Twitter announced that it was doing away with the egg as its default avatar, opting instead for a nondescript person-shape figure. No more bright colors, either — the new avatar is all gray.

So the People Pane has a fallback picture. A default, for when it can't find a better picture to display. The default is just a silhouette: That isn't just anyone's silhouette, however.

The silhouette of a person's head used as the default profile icon for Microsoft Outlook 2010 was based on a police mug shot taken of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates in 1977.

The silhouette of a person's head used as the default profile icon for Microsoft Outlook 2010 was based on a police mug shot taken of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates in 1977.

The silhouette of a person's head used as the default profile icon for Microsoft Outlook 2010 was based on a police mug shot taken of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates in 1977. Rating: The outline of ...