Twitter declined to comment for this article, but it is eyeing other revenue opportunities as well, such as allowing users to make a restaurant reservation or even a purchase from within Twitter.

If expanded tweets are to take on more functionality, and become a greater source of revenue, it could explain why having a standard, dependable user interface is important for Twitter.

But the way Twitter has communicated its plans has likely made its problems worse than they had to be. Its move to tighten its API rules is "on one level fair, but on another level it drives developers nuts, because they were expecting one thing and now it's another," said , an early Twitter advocate who does developer outreach for Rackspace.

Most companies that invite developers to build on their platforms warn them well in advance of upcoming changes, but Twitter doesn't, Scoble said. "Twitter just doesn't have that outreach to developers that makes you feel warm and fuzzy even when things are changing," he said.

IDC analyst Al Hilwa sees Twitter in somewhat of a Catch-22 situation: It needs a robust community of developers to continue its growth, but the steps it is taking to achieve that growth risk alienating its developers.