Twitter Inc. is getting tired of users sharing Instagram photos instead of using Twitter’s image features, so it is pleading with the most popular “verified” users to stop.

The prompt went out to actors, athletes, and other popular accounts with the hope that if a few high-profile accounts stopped using Instagram, the effect would trickle down to the average user.

The main issue with Instagram, according to Twitter, is that it does not support Twitter’s card system. When an Instagram photo is shared on Twitter, it shows up as a link on the newsfeed rather than the image itself. Some users get around this by copying the image and re-sharing it, but many people continue to simply share the link to the Instagram picture, essentially forcing users to leave Twitter’s site if they want to view it.

“Post your photos directly on Twitter to make sure your fans always see them,” Twitter’s message reads.

Good for users, or good for Twitter?

While Twitter may have its users’ best interests at heart, the company stands to benefit from pulling people away from the Facebook Inc.-owned Instagram, which recently passed Twitter in total number of users at the end of last year.

Last year, Facebook began positioning itself to become a multimedia empire. The social network with over 1 billion users has been acquiring  multiple technology startups in every field from video to speech recognition, and at the same time it has gone on a massive hiring spree, adding over a thousand positions in drone engineering, multimedia and more. There were even reports that Facebook tried to entice popular YouTube stars to make exclusive video content for its site.

Meanwhile, Twitter has been playing catch-up by also acquiring new technology companies, most recently the India-based communications company ZipDial, which would help Twitter expand its services internationally, especially in less affluent markets.

Twitter’s share price spiked earlier this month amidst speculation that the microblog company could acquire part of Yahoo! Inc., combining Twitter’s short form content like Vine with Yahoo’s more traditional media services. However, there has been no news of any serious talks between the two companies about a merger.