Instagram is getting its tweet revenge.
The photo-sharing social network, which has been amping up its rivalry with Twitter since Instagram was purchased by Facebook in August, is now making its photos harder to view on the micro-blogging site.
Instead of being able to view an entire Instagram photo in a tweet, users now see only a cropped version of the photo and have to click through to Instagram’s platform to see the entire photo.
The move makes business sense for Instagram as it looks to boost traffic to its site and lays the groundwork for advertising through its platform.
Also, the move represents a bit of a twit for tat, after Twitter launched the first mobile salvo with moves like not allowing Instagram to mine Twitter’s contact lists for users to instantly connect with followers.
Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom discussed the changes yesterday at LeWeb conference in Paris, and said his company wanted to promote its new website, which launched last month and allows users to post profiles online.
It was Instagram’s first presence outside mobile phones.
“A handful of months ago, we supported Twitter cards because we had a minimal Web presence,” Instagram said in an e-mailed statement.
“We’ve since launched several improvements to our website that allow users to directly engage with Instagram content through likes, comments [and] hashtags, and now we believe the best experience is for us to link back to where the content lives,” Systrom said.
Twitter “cards” were launched this year and allow third-party content, like YouTube videos and audio clips from SoundCloud, to open within a user’s Twitter feed.
The Instagram sneak attack isn’t sitting well with Twitter.
“Users are experiencing issues with viewing Instagram photos on Twitter. Issues include cropped images,” the company said in a statement posted online yesterday.
“This is due to Instagram disabling its Twitter cards integration, and as a result, photos are being displayed using a pre-cards experience,” it said. “So, when users click on Tweets with an Instagram link, photos appear cropped.”
Instagram indicated that soon across the Twitterverse — mobile and online — Instagram photos will only show as links to its website.
The friction between the two popular social networks highlighted the growing battle for mobile ad dollars and raised concerns about the future of sharing, which generally is supposed to be made easier — not harder — as a tenet of Facebook’s mission.
Systrom said the decision to launch the attack on Twitter was his alone and not pushed by his owners at Facebook.
Twitter users can still share Instagram photos the same way Messenger users can — by attaching the images from their phones’ photo archives, and not from the Instagram app.