Facebook buys famous Giphy Website, a popular website for making and sharing images or GIFs with 700 million daily users. Now Giphy will become part of Instagram, the site for making and sharing photos also owned by Facebook at the cost of $400 million. Its GIF library, already is in integration with other apps, now Facebook will strengthen its integration with Instagram and other Facebook-owned apps like Whatsapp and Messenger.
Its purpose is that Facebook wants to give its users a better experience and to enhance their method of digital expression.
Vishal Shah, vice president of product at Instagram, said in the announcement that, “By bringing Instagram and Giphy together, we can make it easier for people to find the perfect GIFs and stickers in Stories and Direct,”
Some of the people also expresses concern over the development. And the reason is the privacy issues according to Facebook’s track record. So what would happen now if Facebook controls public beloved GIF service? Also people spread rumors that the Giphy service will remove GIFs of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerburg.
Facebook was also been accused of copying features from Snapchat according to the Wired technology website. And now they will know in more detail how their users interact with GIFs.
Giphy’s head of content said on Twitter, “Want to clarify that this is not true as we only take down content that violates our guidelines,” He also said that there is no truth the news that Giphy will remove Facebook CEO GIFs.
GIF Library Integrations
Interestingly, Giphy’s tools are in integration with so many Facebook competitors such as Twitter, Snapchat, TikTok, Reddit, Slack, and Bumble. So in the upcoming days we will see up to what extent will Facebook keeps a tight knot with its competitors.
“Already Active Integrations with social platforms like Twitter, Snapchat, TikTok and ByteDance’s would not change” Facebook spokesman said.
It’s important to note that 50% of Giphy’s traffic already comes from Facebook while half of that coming from Instagram.
This step by Facebook will likely benefit all Facebook products such as Instagram, Messenger, and Whatsapp. Facebook will get access to a vast data and knows GIFs are used across different platforms. It’s another rich source of data for the company. Giphy, GIF library being a media platform, derived its value from the work of independent creators. And now it’s in the hands of Facebook.
For Giphy users, things will remain the same for the time being. So keep expressing your feelings through a variety of GIFs.
