diff --git a/bots/check-mirroring b/bots/check-mirroring
index bc8bd94..12eeaf4 100755
--- a/bots/check-mirroring
+++ b/bots/check-mirroring
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ if child_pid == 0:
     # Run the humbug => zephyr mirror in the child
     time.sleep(3)
     humbug_client.send_message({
-            "type": "personal",
+            "type": "private",
             "content": str(hzkey1),
             "recipient": humbug_user,
             });
diff --git a/bots/gcal-bot b/bots/gcal-bot
index 91b4c13..0f2fd77 100755
--- a/bots/gcal-bot
+++ b/bots/gcal-bot
@@ -128,7 +128,7 @@ def send_reminders():
         message = 'Reminder:\n\n' + '\n'.join('* ' + m for m in messages)
 
     humbug.send_message(dict(
-        type      = 'personal',
+        type      = 'private',
         recipient = options.user,
         content   = message))
 
diff --git a/bots/zephyr_mirror.py b/bots/zephyr_mirror.py
index 6a3c37c..cf34f0d 100755
--- a/bots/zephyr_mirror.py
+++ b/bots/zephyr_mirror.py
@@ -247,10 +247,10 @@ def process_notice(notice, log):
              'zsig'      : zsig,  # logged here but not used by app
              'content'   : body }
     if is_huddle:
-        zeph['type'] = 'personal'
+        zeph['type'] = 'private'
         zeph['recipient'] = huddle_recipients
     elif is_personal:
-        zeph['type'] = 'personal'
+        zeph['type'] = 'private'
         zeph['recipient'] = to_humbug_username(notice.recipient)
     else:
         zeph['type'] = 'stream'
@@ -261,7 +261,7 @@ def process_notice(notice, log):
             zeph["subject"] = '(instance "%s")' % (notice.instance,)
 
     # Add instances in for instanced personals
-    if zeph['type'] == "personal" and notice.instance.lower() != "personal":
+    if zeph['type'] == "private" and notice.instance.lower() != "personal":
         zeph["content"] = "[-i %s]" % (notice.instance,) + "\n" + zeph["content"]
 
     zeph = decode_unicode_byte_strings(zeph)
diff --git a/examples/curl-examples b/examples/curl-examples
index aa74fd5..3bf35f3 100755
--- a/examples/curl-examples
+++ b/examples/curl-examples
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 curl https://humbughq.com/api/v1/send_message \
     -d "api-key=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" \
     -d "email=tabbott@humbughq.com" \
-    -d "type=personal" -d "content=test" \
+    -d "type=private" -d "content=test" \
     -d "recipient=tabbott@humbughq.com"
 
 curl https://humbughq.com/api/v1/get_messages \
diff --git a/examples/send-message b/examples/send-message
index 9c4e60f..ee1945b 100755
--- a/examples/send-message
+++ b/examples/send-message
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ client = api.common.HumbugAPI(email=options.user,
                               site=options.site)
 
 message_data = {
-    "type": "personal",
+    "type": "private",
     "content": "test",
     "recipient": "tabbott@humbughq.com",
 }