Twitter Removes Background Images, Sparks Funny-Furious Backlash

Social network’s users complain the move strips them of customization

Twitter stripped background images from user home and notification pages on Monday and the update wasn’t a welcome one.

Of course, nothing whips social media into a frenzy like communal venting over platform updates and an overinflated sense of entitlement. One hundred forty-character complaints ranged from nostalgia for custom wallpaper and regrets over the new look — a “grey, empty expanse of nothingness” — to threats that users are moving to Canada.

Previously, you could design your own background image or customize the color scheme of your Twitter home page. The newly imposed background is solid white, prompting the hashtag #blindingwhite among haters.

However, there is some relief. Personalized backgrounds will still appear around individual tweets, on list pages and collection pages.

“We’re removing background images from the home and notifications timelines on web for all users,” a Twitter spokesperson told TheWrap. “Now, background images are only available where logged-in users will see them publicly (Tweet pages, list pages and collections pages). You can find help center content about customizing your design and where it’s visible on Twitter here.”

Here are some of the best reactions Twitter users had to being stripped of their individuality:

 

 

https://twitter.com/lordofekron/status/623411593599029248

 

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