Facebook have just rolled out a change to their site which will make a lot of people very, very happy.
It’s time for those WordArt style multi-coloured Facebook status boxes to move over: The GIFs have landed.
The social networking site is rolling out the use of GIFs on all comment threads across the platform, so your conversations are about to get a lot more animated.
The GIF button lets you post GIFs direct from different hosting services like Giphy straight into your comments box.
While the update is supposedly intended to mark the 30th anniversary of the GIF format, Facebook were probably also caving into pressure from users who found the previous way to insert GIFs into posts long-winded and tiresome.
Facebook added GIF support two years ago, but until now we all had to enter the URL of a GIF hosted somewhere else – and who’s got time to scroll through all the GIFs of SpongeBob SquarePants to tell your mate that nobody cares nowadays?
The new GIF button will make the process a lot easier and quicker, especially on mobile.
It’s currently only available for comments, but Facebook is likely to eventually also make GIF buttons available for News Feed posts because user demand for GIFs shows no signs of abating, according to TechCrunch.
Facebook also announced that almost 13 billion GIFs were sent on Messenger over the past year, with over 400 million GIFs sent to help people bring in the New Year in 2017.
…because why use your own words when RuPaul does it so much better?
A former emo kid who talks too much about 8Chan meme culture, the Kardashian Klan, and how her smartphone is probably killing her. Francesca is a Cardiff University Journalism Masters grad who has done words for BBC, ELLE, The Debrief, DAZED, an art magazine you’ve never heard of and a feminist zine which never went to print.