Photo-sharing service Twitpic announced today an agreement had been reached with Twitter which will give Twitter ownership of the Twitpic domain and its expansive photo archives.
Twitpic founder Noah Everett announced the news in a company blog post.
We weren't able to find a way to keep Twitpic independent. However, I'm happy to announce that we have reached an agreement with Twitter to give them the Twitpic domain and photo archive, thus keeping the photos and links alive for the time being. Twitter shares our goal of protecting our users and this data. Also, since Twitpic's user base consists of Twitter users, it makes sense to keep this data with Twitter.
TwitPic Founder Noah Everett
The Twitpic archive will be read-only, however, and while Twitpic users can still easily download their photo collections, they will be unable to upload new pictures.
The announcement of Twitter's acquisition of the Twitpic domain and photo archive follows what has been a chaotic two months for Twitpic.
Last month, Twitpic announced it would be shutting down due to a trademark despite with Twitter regarding the name "Twitpic." Weeks later, Twitpic announced it had been acquired and would continue its service, but the acquisition talks fell through, leading to Twitpic to backtrack and announce its impending closure shortly after.
Twitpic founder Noah Everett used today's announcement as a final farewell, stating in his blog post that "I want to say thank you for allowing me to be a part of your photo sharing memories for nearly seven years. It has been an honor."