Instagram disables Twitter integration

• Instagram removes photo previews from Twitter
• Photo links in Tweets redirect to web pages
• Posting to other social networks not affected

Instagram disabled its Twitter-cards integration on Wednesday — the panels that Twitter uses to display images within a Twitter stream.

Twitter said in a post on its website that users are experiencing difficulties viewing Instagram photos on Twitter. Photos are displayed "using a pre-cards experience," and that when you click on Instagram links within Tweets, the photos appear cropped or off-center.

The New York Times and others report that Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom confirmed that the company has removed the option to send pictures to Twitter and that Instagram plans to cut off the ability to embed pictures on Twitter.

Speaking at the LeWeb technology conference, Systrom said he wants better integration between the Instagram app and the Instagram website:

"We wanted to make sure we direct users to where the content lives originally, so they get the full Instagram experience," Instagram CEO Kevin System said, "It's just about where do you go to interact with that image? We want that to be on Instagram.com because it has a better user experience currently."

Instagram, which is now owned by Facebook, rolled out web pages for its users last month. When someone clicks on an Instagram link in a photo, they will now be directed to the user's Instagram web page to view the photo.

Photo posting to Facebook, Foursquare and Tumblr will not be affected by these changes.

The dust-up is the latest between Twitter and Instagram since Facebook announced it would buy Instagram for approximately $1 billion this year. Twitter and Instagram were once aligned against Facebook, but now are rivals.

Last month, Twitter said it would let users add photo filters to pictures uploaded to Twitter -- part of a greater effort to compete with Instagram.