Facebook has had Snapchat in its sights for quite some time now, and the social media giant ratcheted up the pressure even further with the addition of its Camera platform. Now it’s going yet another step further by testing a GIF creator. These Facebook Camera GIFs are sure to draw interest, given how obsessed some people are with the little moving images.
Testing Facebook Camera GIFs
The Next Web discovered the Facebook Camera GIFs creator, which appears to only be available to a small group of power users, which suggests that the feature will be rolled out only gradually. Of course it’s possible that the company will scrap the feature entirely, as it seems to only be in beta, but most social media users are in love with GIFs so that seems unlikely.
The Facebook Camera GIFs feature seems to work very simply. It’s easy to find out if you’re included in the small group of users who get to test it out. When swiping to the left to bring up the Facebook Camera, there will be a new mode at the top. Instead of there just being the one mode, which it describes as “Normal,” there will be a second option for “GIF” mode.
Apparently, the feature is only available in the iOS version of the Facebook app, as those who discovered the feature on their iOS devices did not see it on the newest version of the app running on Android.
How the Facebook Camera GIFs feature works
The GIF mode in the Facebook Camera enables users to create GIFs from the images they take. According to The Next Web the GIFs it creates last only “a few seconds.” In addition to recording a GIF, you can also use all of the frames and effects that are available in the Facebook Camera.
You can add the Facebook Camera GIFs you create to your Facebook Stories or just post them on your profile. If you want to save the GIFs to your device, unfortunately they can only be saved as videos, according to The Verge. You also can’t send them via other social media platforms, which means this feature, while very fun, won’t really work outside of Facebook. Some will undoubtedly find this to be maddening, but the company probably wants to make sure that the images people create using its Camera stay on its platforms. Sounds like a page out of Apple’s book.
This isn’t the only new effort Facebook has made in the area of GIFs lately. The social media firm also recently added GIF support to comments, expanding support for the little animated images even further on its platform. Indeed, GIFs are becoming even more popular of late, so no tech firm wants to be left behind. Apple is even adding native support for them in the Photos app in iOS 11.
