Twitter will now support GIFs
Posted by: Jon Ben-Mayor on 06/18/2014 01:16 PM
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Twitter has announced via ananimated tweet that they will be adding native support animated GIFs! The feature goes live to day on the Twitter website along with iPhone and Android.
If you recall Twitter was dead set against allowing this feature and back in 2012 stopped the ability to upload any GIF, this decision was probably in part to save space.
Newly uploaded GIFs will thankfully not automatically play, you will have to open them up first. Thankfully!
Facebook made a very conscious decision to not support GIFs because the company believes it would make the news feed too chaotic, and it’s already waging war against memes according to TechCrunch. Instead, only natively uploaded Facebook videos, Instagram videos, and premium video ads can auto-play in the Facebook feed today. Whether Twitter’s move to support GIF’s will influence Facebook’s decision here remains to be seen.
There’s some possibility that Twitter, too, could become a bit overwhelmed with GIFs as the change goes live across the site, and everyone starts testing the waters. But it also makes sense in terms of Twitter’s larger goal to become a more rich media-focused service, as it moves away from being known only for its 140-character text updates.
If you recall Twitter was dead set against allowing this feature and back in 2012 stopped the ability to upload any GIF, this decision was probably in part to save space.Newly uploaded GIFs will thankfully not automatically play, you will have to open them up first. Thankfully!
Facebook made a very conscious decision to not support GIFs because the company believes it would make the news feed too chaotic, and it’s already waging war against memes according to TechCrunch. Instead, only natively uploaded Facebook videos, Instagram videos, and premium video ads can auto-play in the Facebook feed today. Whether Twitter’s move to support GIF’s will influence Facebook’s decision here remains to be seen.
There’s some possibility that Twitter, too, could become a bit overwhelmed with GIFs as the change goes live across the site, and everyone starts testing the waters. But it also makes sense in terms of Twitter’s larger goal to become a more rich media-focused service, as it moves away from being known only for its 140-character text updates.
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