GIF button coming to Twitter
GIFs are coming to Twitter. Wait? Twitter users have already shared over a 100 million GIFs on the social network, but now Twitter is adding a button to send out a GIF. The button is next to the ‘photo’ or ‘poll’ button, making sending a GIF a trillion times easier.
The “GIF Search” sorts gifs based on categories, making it easy to find the perfect response to the funny or insulting tweet. The search is power by GIPHY and Riffsy making sending gifs of a dunk during a basketball game almost instant. Twitter making sending gifs easier, means more gifs and their hope is more ‘normal’ users engaging users on the site. Before the GIF search users would have to download another app like a GIF keyboard, or find a gif on a website and save it to their camera roll. The process was hard for normal users, and mainly power users would send GIFs to their followers as reactions to insulting or funny tweets.
The GIFs are coming! Get ready to search and send GIFs in Tweets and Direct Messages: https://t.co/uk75stt1zN pic.twitter.com/1dDD1B4CW2
— Twitter (@twitter) February 17, 2016
I’ve shared GIFs before, but with the search I’ll share them more often. I may even start tweeting in GIFs solely. The feature will make Twitter more confusing at first. Now users can attach polls, photos, videos, and GIFs which can all be overwhelming for a new user who’s struggling to figure out how to find followers and engage with social influencers who have made Twitter a staple of their lives.
“So much can be expressed with GIFs, and the key is to find just the right one in the moment that quickly and efficiently expresses your emotions,” says David McIntosh, CEO and co-founder of Riffsy. “We’re excited to explore this partnership with Twitter and watch Twitter users discover and share their favorite GIFs in their daily lives.”
Tell us in the comments below if you’re going to use the Twitter GIF search!
