GIF or Graphic Interchange Format is a type of animated picture that was developed by an American computer scientist by the name of Steve Wilhite. Steve and his team launched it in 1987. Since then it has been used on the internet a lot because it is easily portable between different applications. They have gained more popularity over the last few years.
How is a GIF different from a video
GIFs are a series of static images that are repeated in a loop and do not have audio. They are generally really short. That is why they are so popular and are seen everywhere on the World Wide Web. Videos are a series of moving images as well, however, they can also contain audio. Their frame rate is higher. This in turn means they are of much better quality. Unlike GIFs, videos do not usually loop and are of different lengths. The volume of videos is usually higher than the other one too. This is one of the reasons we previously said GIFs are highly portable.
Why use a GIF
They are effective tools to communicate emotions, jokes, and memes. They help people react to the messages more clearly and lower the chances of misunderstanding. Using GIFs shows that you are familiar with the latest trends and are a good way to create a friendly and trusting relationship with your recipient. Currently, the average time span of people is around 2 to 8 seconds. As GIFs are usually 2 to 5 seconds, they are a great way of grabbing the attention of your target. Their looping quality is another feature that makes them suitable for this aim.
Using moving pictures is a fun way to increase engagement and click-through.
Where to find GIFs
There are lots of websites that you can download GIFs from. To make the job of finding the perfect one easier for you here is a list of 5 best of them:
- GIPHY: this is a great website that works like google but only for GIFs. It’s a doddle to work with the website and search among hundreds of thousands of animated pictures.
- Know Your Meme: what is special about this website is that you can see the history of the GIFs as well. There are a lot of fun facts that nobody knows.
- GIFbin: with its old and aesthetic-looking interface, this website is also a great source that you may want to use.
- Reddit: on Reddit, you can comment on GIFs, vote for them, and upload your own as well.
- Tenor: this one has a really powerful search engine that is usually helpful for social media. You search for words like “love” and it gives you more specific suggestions like “heart” and “I love you”.
How to post a GIF
Basically, Instagram does not let you share GIFs directly but you can download and convert them to videos and then share. To do this you need a converter. You can use an online converter for this purpose.
- Search ezgif.com on Chrome
- Choose GIF to MP4
- Choose the file from your computer or paste the URL
- Download and use the resulting file.
This website is a great and easy-to-use one. You can also rotate, resize, reverse, cut, crop, and merge your videos on it.
Summary
GIFs can help you communicate more effectively with people on social media. Instagram doesn’t let you share these moving images directly to the platform. That’s why you have to convert them to videos. In order to do that you can use the website that was introduced in the article.
What is your reaction?
