Twitter and Instagram have been catty toward one another since Instagram, the popular photo-sharing app, was purchased by Facebook last April 2012. This week, that hostility became official. In an effort to keep its users from veering away to other platforms, Instagram stopped supporting the Twitter Cards functionality that allowed Instagram photos to show up in tweets. On Sunday, what were once vivid images of rural scenery, artisanal breakfasts and self-portraits in the mirror became an eyesore of blank squares.
But not for long. On Monday, Twitter revealed the ace up its sleeve: it has its own photo-sharing capability. With filters and other functions already available, those looking to tweet photos of today’s lunch won’t miss a beat.
Here’s the Chatter on Twitter’s new photo-service and what, if anything, this means for Instagram.
Mike Isaac @ All Things D
“In effect, it’s Instagram giving Twitter the middle finger, a clear sign of the photo-sharing service making plain that it no longer wants Twitter to ride on the successful coattails of the millions of photos Instagram hosts on its service every single day.”
Hayley Tsukayama @ The Washington Post
“It’s a direct shot against Instagram – formerly a close Twitter partner. The two companies have hit a rough patch since Instagram was purchased by Facebook earlier this year.”
Doug Gross @ CNN
“In the Internet age, data and dwell time equal money. With Facebook pushing to grow its mobile revenue (and modest stock price) and Twitter still searching for effective ways to translate its popularity into profit, this rift was perhaps inevitable.”
JD Rucker @ Techi
“Between the move away from Twitter, the new Twitter apps, and the spam, Instagram is quickly becoming a one-trick pony.”
Mat Honan @ Wired
“It’s not clear exactly how effective the move will be. Photo filters are everywhere now. And while the new app means Twitter users can still embed Instagram-style photos in their timelines, it’s clearly not an Instagram replacement. Instagram isn’t a mere photo-sharing app any more than Facebook is. It has a powerful and unique network effect all its own. It will take considerably more than eight light filters to fight that.”
