While updates with images taken with Instagram have long been a staple part of the Twitter stream, as of yesterday, the popular photo-sharing service has disabled its Twitter cards integration.
The integration previously allowed for Instagram images to be expanded and viewed in full within the Twitter stream; now the images appear cropped.
Speaking at the LeWeb conference, in Paris, on Wednesday, Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom confirmed the company's decision to remove the ability for its images to be properly displayed on Twitter, and added that Instagram intends to stop its images from being visible on Twitter completely.
Systrom said: "We've decided that, right now, what makes sense is to direct our users to the Instagram Web site. Obviously things change as a company evolves."
While users will still be able to tweet a link to an Instagram photo, the link will direct people to the Instagram site to view it. Instagram is trying to grow traffic to its site and Systrom says he believes it offers a better user experience.
"We will always be integrated with Twitter in a way that you can tweet out from Instagram to Twitter," said Systrom. He acknowledged that the change is "really confusing" for users and apologised for that. Instagram images will still be displayed as normal when shared on other social services such as Facebook, Tumblr and Foursquare.
Photo wars
Facebook acquired Instagram (which has over 100 million users) earlier this year as it ramped up its photo-sharing services. While Twitter formed an integral part of Instagram's early success, the two sites are becoming increasingly competitive. Instagram, initially a mobile-only app, recently rolled out its own Web service, and Twitter is expected to introduce its own photo filters for its mobile app in the near future.
Twitter has been burning bridges in recent months as it has been trying to gain tighter control over its eco-system, cutting off third-party clients and placing new restrictions on its API.
In August, Twitter also revoked Instagram's access to the "Find Twitter Friends" API (while also doing the same to major blogging platform Tumblr and ending its partnership with LinkedIn). Systrom has, however, said Instagram's decision to disable Twitter cards for its service is not in retaliation to Twitter's actions, and added that it is not a result of the Facebook acquisition either.
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