Twitter (Finally) Adds Animated GIFs

The world is totally in love with GIFs, you know those animated images that make us laugh so hard but more importantly, can really help your visual stand out on a timeline.

Up to now, animated GIFs were however only accessible on very few social media/blogging platforms like Tumblr or more recently, Pinterest.

Today, Twitter finally added native support for animated GIFs on both its web version and mobile apps!

Starting today, #Twitter lets you enjoy animated GIFs right from your timeline!

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Also Read: Pinterest Now Lets You Pin Animated GIFs

GIFs had already been available on Twitter, but, up to now, it required users to go through Giphy, a third-party platform to actually visualize them. With native support added, GIFs are now directly accessible from the mobile app or web version of Twitter. As you will see below, they are also compatible with embedded tweets.

With native support added, GIFs are now directly accessible on #Twitter

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Nick Summers, from The Next Web, was among the first to try out the new feature:

It’s a GIF! http://t.co/MyGBncnuTZ

— Nick Summers (@nisummers) June 18, 2014

Of course, you can do much more with GIFs than posting a video. They are an amazing source of engagement as followers will share and comment on them.

My only guess is that after Twitter, other platforms will follow, and I am obviously thinking of Facebook here.

Note: GIFS are not yet accessible via third-party Twitter platforms like TweetDeck. Unfortunately the Mac and Windows desktop app have been left out too for the moment.