Twitter Inc Feeds Now Support Animated GIFs

Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) is now including GIFs in users’ timelines. The animations won’t start playing automatically though, which is a good thing because it keeps users from accidentally downloading large files that really aren’t needed. However, opening the tweet that has the GIF in it will begin playing it automatically.

Twitter finally gives in

Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) made the announcement on its Twitter feed of course. Many of the micro-blogging platform’s users have been requesting that the micro-blogging platform add support for GIFs for quite some time. According to The Verge, the addition means reading Twitter feeds will be a lot easier because users don’t have to open new windows to view every time they want to read one.

Starting today, you can share and view animated GIFs on http://t.co/wJD8Fp317i, Android and iPhone. http://t.co/XBrAbOm4Ya

— Twitter Support (@Support) June 18, 2014

Will Facebook follow suit?

It will be interesting to see if Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) follows suit. The social network has refused to add support for GIFs for quite some time, as it remains very concerned about how the News Feeds look. Of course Giphy does offer a sort of workaround for what Facebook is lacking in this respect. By opting to support GIFs, Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) seems to be saying that it chooses fun over looks.

Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) first said it would be adding support for GIFs a few weeks ago. However, the ability to post the animations was limited to just a few users. Also only a handful of Twitter users could even see them. After a short time, the ability to post and see GIFs seemed to disappear entirely from the site, although it was still possible to use Giphy to post them. Giphy has been in use on Twitter since late last year.

Now that Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) has officially announced support for GIF animations, it seems likely that they will be sticking around for everyone.

Here are some good ones:

So @twitter allows gifs now. We thought’d we’d post a LIVE gif of the FRISKY HQ to mark this occasion. Carry on. http://t.co/PJ0i7rvcPi

— FRISKY (@friskyradio) June 18, 2014