Introducing #TheDailyThree, a daily roundup of quick thoughts on the top 3 digital stories of the day. Today’s inaugural edition is heavy on Instagram & Snapchat’s new updates.

1. Instagram adds gifs to stories, adding a feature that Snapchat users will find very familiar. IG has been eating a bite of Snap’s lunch on a seemingly weekly basis. Brands such as CNN that heavily invested in the channel are wisely leaving for greener pastures.

2. Meanwhile, Snapchat is ironically adding the ability to share your posts to other channels, such as Facebook & Twitter. This seems less of a lunch-eating move & more of an act of desperation for a brand who’s growth is plummeting and revenue disappointing.

3. Finally, Instagram will be rolling out the ability to use images/video of any size to Stories, letting users select a colored gradient background. This solves having to resize non-vertical content + also eliminates the need for 3rd party apps.