For Mobile Messaging, GIFs Prove to Be Worth at Least a Thousand Words
When Ms. Dikeou recently wanted a friend to stop sending her pictures of food, she responded with a GIF — an animated image known as a graphics interchange format — of Christina Aguilera rolling her eyes, waving her hand and soundlessly mouthing “PLEASE STOP.” Ms. Dikeou’s mobile messages are now often textless, replaced by clips of Harry Potter applauding, or excited toddlers opening birthday presents. Her favorite one features the ensemble cast of “Seinfeld” elatedly dancing, which she sent upon hearing that a friend was coming into town.
.. Just as smartphones drove the rise of emoji, mobile devices are propelling GIFs into a more widespread form of instant visual-messaging. Tumblr, the blogging site, said it had 23 million GIFs posted to its site every day. In March, Facebook began supporting GIFs, with more than five million of the animations sent daily through its messaging app. Slack, the workplace collaboration start-up, says it counts more than two million GIF integrations each month.