Twitter will reportedly stop supporting third-party image hosts on its official apps.

The changes will likely roll out in the next round of updates, according to a Buzzfeed source.

Currently, users can include photos in their tweets that are hosted by Twitter's own official photo service, as well as third-party websites such as Twitpic and yfrog.

On its Help Center page for "How to Include Pictures in Tweets," the microblogging service says users will be able to "view images hosted on most third-party images providers indefinitely."

Twitter has contacted companies that will be impacted by the change, Buzzfeed reported.

"They're trying to control those eyeballs on their apps; they're an ad-based company, they make money that way," Twitpic Founder Noah Everett told the website.

In recent times, Twitter has cut off third-party clients from its ecosystem, announcing stricter API rules last month. It described the changes as a way to foster a "consistent Twitter experience" across devices and platforms.

The service officially unveiled version 1.1 of its API earlier this month, and revealed that it would be ending support for RSS, XML and Atom.

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"We aim to strike a balance between encouraging interesting development and protecting both Twitter's and user's rights," Twitter writes on its "Developer Rules of the Road" webpage.

What do you think of these potential changes? Discuss in the comments below.

Thumbnail image courtesy of iStockphoto, sodafish