Businesses in Minnesota and around the country reacted quickly to news of the death of Prince by offering tributes on Twitter and other social media Thursday afternoon.
One of the first was Maplewood-based 3M Co., which at 12:52 p.m. posted an image on social media accounts of its iconic red logo turned purple with teardrop between the 3 and M.
Fanna Haile-Selassie, a 3M spokeswoman, said that 3M designers met and quickly came up with the idea. The purple logo also took the place of its main logo on its Twitter, Instagram and Facebook IDs. "As a Minnesota-based company, we created a special piece of artwork to recognize a legendary Minnesota music icon," Haile-Selassie said.
Digital tributes, though ephemeral in nature, have become common in recent years as a way for individuals, companies and institutions to collectively experience an event.
At least one highly-visible tribute will took a physical form. Target Corp. said the lights on top of its headquarters building in downtown Minneapolis would be purple starting at 8 p.m. Thursday.
"The Target team was deeply saddened to hear the news of Prince's death. He was one of the best-selling artists of his time and a legendary Minnesotan," Target said in a statement.
Schmitt Music posted photos taken when Prince shopped at one of its stores in 1977.
The Minnesota Twins posted a picture on Twitter of an image of Prince on the giant leftfield scoreboard at Target Field, with other signage lit in purple.
The Minnesota Vikings also paid tribute, saying the team was honored that Prince was a fan.
And in the world at large, Google turned its main search page into a tribute, with its logo in purple and dashes of rain passing in front:
One of the most retweeted tributes came not from a business but from NASA, which posted an image of a purple nebula in honor of Prince:
Here are some of the other tributes that emerged on Twitter by mid-afternoon: