GIFs
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Now Twitter lets you add stickers and GIFs to fleets
Twitter has updated fleets with the ability to embellish them with fun stickers without having to use another app.
Giphy Arcade lets you play, create and share your own bite-sized games
While it has evolved over the last few years to be more than just a place to find your favorite looping images, Giphy's experiments with short-form video and emoji have felt like an extension of its obsession with GIFs. Giphy Arcade, a new subsection of Giphy's website devoted to small, bite-sized games, feels like a more substantial departure. If you fondly remember the days of Flash games like Desktop Tower Defense, Red Remover and Bookworm, the concept of Giphy Arcade will be intimately familiar.
Google makes it easy to share GIFs from search
GIFs aren't meant to be kept hidden in a folder, tucked in a dark corner of your phone or computer -- they're meant to be shared. Google is making it much easier to do that on mobile by putting shareable GIFs in their own section under Images. Just do a search for the reaction GIF you have in mind and hit the Share button under the one you've chosen to punt it straight to Gmail or to a convo in Hangouts, Android Messages and WhatsApp. The sections shows options based on how popular they are, so you'll probably find some good candidates without scrolling down too much.
Giphy adds animated emoji and text to its apps
Giphy is moving past just GIFs and getting into the business of everything animated. Starting today, the company is rolling out two new formats: Giphy Emoji and Giphy Text. The new features expand upon the company's huge reservoir of GIFs by adding new collections of animated emoji and text stickers that can be shared across conversations. Both features will be available through the Giphy app for iOS and Android starting today, as well as the Giphy Keyboard available for both operating systems. The company plans to open the features up to developers in the near future.
Twitch gets musical GIFs with TuneMoji extension
Twitch streamers can now celebrate their victories with musical GIFs. The Amazon-owned platform is getting a new extension that will add support for TuneMoji, a service where users can create and upload short audio and visual mash-ups. Streamers will be able to incorporate TuneMoji content into their live broadcasts and give viewers the ability to share GIFs in the chat.
Giphy offers easy access to GIFs with iOS keyboard extension
Giphy announced an update to its iOS app that will give users the ability to quickly share GIFs from the Giphy Keyboard extension within any app that supports multimedia. The company responsible for providing GIFs in Instagram DMs is also launching a new animated sticker tool only available for the line of iPhone X devices. The update should start rolling out to users starting today.
Facebook adds animated GIFs and more customization to Messenger Lite
Messenger Lite, Facebook's stripped down version of its popular messaging app, is getting some new features for customization and expression. Starting today, users of the app will be able to send and view animated GIFs, change how conversations with people and groups look and share files with others.
Google adds GIF and emoji recommendations to Gboard
Users of Gboard are about to see their keyboard get a lot smarter. Google announced that its first-party keyobard will use artificial intelligence to recommend GIFs, emoji and stickers based on the context of the conversation you're having. The new suggestion feature will start rolling out today for English speaking users on Android, with more languages to come in the future. Google didn't make mention of the feature coming to iOS.
Giphy’s film festival turns GIFs into art
As I made my way into the Metrograph movie theater in New York City, I felt like I was attending a screening for the Tribeca Film Festival. There was a red carpet, people posing for professional photographers, an official film guide and, of course, drinks and popcorn. This isn't quite what I expected when I learned I'd be attending Giphy's first Film Fest. If that name sounds like an oxymoron, the event was a showcase of 118 videos of 18 seconds or less from five different categories: narrative, animated, stop-motion, experimental and wild card. Considering that most of my GIF consumption happens on a laptop or phone, I wasn't expecting this big a to-do.
Giphy unveils its short-form video platform
Giphy is again moving beyond the traditional confines of everyone's favorite animated image format, the GIF. The company is soft launching its video platform Friday, which showcases the 118 finalist videos from the first Giphy Film Fest, held earlier this week.
Twitch is giving the people what they want: GIFs
Twitch's next way of letting viewers interact with streams is with GIFs. The latest customization tool for the popular broadcasting service arrives via a partnership with Giphy, and the way it works sounds pretty simple. A broadcaster sets a location on the screen for where users can drop GIFs, and once a stream starts viewers click the Giphy icon to start searching for the perfect reaction to the 'caster's on-screen antics. From there, it'll overlay on the stream. Cool! Before you get any crazy ideas for trolling, GIFs will be curated for appropriateness.
Snapchat reinstates Giphy stickers following removal of racist GIFs
Last month, both Snapchat and Instagram pulled Giphy stickers from their apps after users discovered a racist GIF with a slur. At the time, Giphy said that it had removed the GIF in question and fixed the bug that let it through. It also said it would be reviewing all of its GIF stickers manually. Last week, Instagram reinstated Giphy stickers and now, so has Snapchat.
Facebook borrows from Twitter this time with Polls feature
Polls check a lot of social media manager boxes like "engagement," "feedback" and "traffic lift." With all those buzzwords, it's truly a wonder that Facebook hadn't yet pilfered, I mean borrowed, the idea from poll-crazy rival Twitter. Expect to see them everywhere in your feeds from now on, however, as Facebook has launched Polls globally on iOS, Android and the web. Starting today, you'll be add surveys on any silly topic you like and add GIFs and photos to make them pop.
Facebook's 'M' AI assistant will help you choose a movie
Facebook had grand plans for its in-Messenger AI assistant, M, when it was launched in 2015. While the service hasn't quite yet lived up to the hype, the company is continually rolling out new features in a bid to make using it a fun experience, and to make it easier to get things done. From today, users in the US will see three new suggestions when using the app.
Google brings its fancy Motion Stills GIF-making app to Android
Motion Stills has existed in a strange space for the past year. It's a Google-made app but it's been available only on iOS, piggybacking off Apple's Live Photos function to create dramatic, stabilized GIFs and short videos. Android owners, Google's main user base, were left out of the fun entirely -- until today.
Facebook rolls out GIF comments to everybody
Facebook has had strange relationship with GIFs over the years. For a long time, they weren't supported at all, but as the social network grew, they came to Messenger and then to comments -- as long as they were shared via a service like Giphy or Imgur. Earlier this year, Facebook made things more official by launching a dedicated GIF button, but again it was hamstrung by the fact it only extended to a small subset of users.
Facebook tests GIFs in comments like it's 1995
It's time for Facebook to fully embrace the animated GIF. The social network is about to start testing the ability to add GIFs to comments and your feed will never be the same.
Giphy's latest app is exclusively for animated stickers
When is a GIF not a GIF? Well, when it's pronounced JIF, for one; but also, when it's actually a sticker. Blurring this boundary is lord of the looping image Giphy, which recently introduced a neat, educational set of signing GIFs -- or a new toolkit for creating complex reaction memes, depending on how you look at it. Getting back to tomfoolery, the company is launching Giphy Stickers today.
VSCO brings GIFs to its main iPhone app
In October, Giphy reported that it has over 100 million users every day. Yes, GIFs are huge, and camera app VSCO wants in. That's why, back in 2015, it introduced DSCO. The iOS-only spin-off app allows users to create looping images and share them on the company's own portal or their favorite social networks. Today, VSCO announced that it's reducing phone clutter by bringing DSCO's GIF-making capabilities to its main app.
Tumblr's mobile apps finally have photo filters and stickers
In a move possibly inspired by Snapchat, or even Instagram, Tumblr is bringing photo filters and stickers to its iOS and Android apps. But that's not it: The feature will also work with GIF posts, which is going to let you spice up your feed even more than you already are. Tumblr says you can choose from over 100 "extremely relevant" stickers, so you shouldn't have a problem finding one that fits the message you're trying to get across. And fret not if you don't see these in your Tumblr app yet, as the update just started rolling out today to the App Store and Google Play.
