When it comes to the popular GIF format, Facebook has featured it prominently in Facebook Messenger. Users of Messenger are able to browse trending GIFs and search for specific ones to send to friends and family. Unfortunately, the native Facebook app lacks the feature. But not for long.
According to TechCrunch, next week Facebook will begin testing a GIF button that lets users post GIFs from services like Giphy and Tenor as comments, a source told TechCrunch. An inquiry with Facebook by them resulted in a confirmation:
“Everyone loves a good GIF and we know that people want to be able to use them in comments. So we’re about to start testing the ability to add GIFs to comments and we’ll share more when we can, but for now we repeat that this is just a test.”
The GIF button will initially only be available to a small percentage of Facebook users and depending on its popularity, a more widespread roll out will follow. Much like the existing infrastructure for Messenger, Facebook users will be able to browse trending GIFs and search for specific ones to post as a comment. Unfortunately, it will not be available in the Status feature, though integration is possible in the future.
It’s a great step towards seeing more GIF functionality for the platform; users are currently relegated to direct-linking GIFs. Considering the rise in popularity of the media format it’s no surprise that Facebook is finally giving the format better integration.
