Facebook continues to add features to Instagram in hopes of killing Snapchat. The new feature is GIF support for Instagram Stories.
Integration with GIPHY likely sped things along for the new feature.
GIFs In Stories
Instagram now added support for animated GIF stickers to Stories on the iOS and Android versions of the app. The update also adds in support with GIPHY, which has a vast library of stickers.
Adding it to Stories is pretty simple. It's almost the same as currently adding regular stickers. After selecting the add sticker button at the top, there will be a new GIF option. When a user selects that, a GIF selection screen will appear. All users have to do is drag the one they choose over the story. Users can search the GIF library or choose from GIFs that are currently trending.
Stickers currently available include a floating cheeseburger, crazy faces, dog with sunglasses, and a mouth that is licking its lips. To be able to use the new feature users will need to have the app up-to-date.
More Video Support For Stories
Besides the massive new change to the way people can craft Stories on the app, Instagram also announced that it will allow photos and video of any size to be uploaded to Stories. That means videos and photos will no longer need to be cropped to the 16:9 ratio. Users won't have to choose which of their friends they'll be excluding from photos to be able to put them on the Story.
The extra room around images or videos will be filled in by a color gradient that matches the file. This feature is still not available for the app but will be coming out in the next few weeks.
Facebook is continuing to look for new ways to entice users away from Snapchat. Advertisers are already looking towards Instagram as it has more users than Snapchat, according to recent leaks of user data from Snapchat.
Adding a more comprehensive library of GIFs to Instagram is another way of one-upping its competitor, which is bleeding users and advertisers at the moment. Snapchat will need to look for ways to stay relevant in the market as Facebook continues to copy more features in better ways for Instagram.
