Facebook acquired Giphy, a library full of video clips and GIFs that can be attached to a text. The Giphy will be integrated with the Facebook-owned popular app Instagram. Facebook made a hefty deal with Giphy for integration. According to a valid source, the acquisition price was around $400 million. However, Facebook has kept mum about the deal and the price.
It is not as if the GIFs were not available on Facebook. Anyone could search for a GIF, and attach them with a text or a comment to better express themselves. According to the officials, the integration with Giphy will make it easier for people to find the perfect GIFs and stickers in Stories and direct messages.
It should be mentioned that Giphy is also sort of dependent on the famous social media platform since about 50% of Giphy’s traffic actually comes from Facebook and its various apps, and half of it from Instagram alone. Giphy had first reached out to Facebook fearing bankruptcy, hoping that they would be able to make a deal with Facebook, and then the talk shifted to acquisition.
Giphy already provides GIF search function to other apps also, such as Twitter and TikTok. Being acquired by Facebook would not legally prohibit them from providing its services to other apps. There is also a slight chance of peeping into the users’ activity on Twitter and TikTok.
The inclusion of GIFs could also encourage users to share things on Facebook’s apps. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg plans to enable messaging between all of Facebook’s other apps. It goes without saying that during the pandemic due to the lockdown and quarantine, usage of Facebook’s communications products has surged.
The integration would also mean that people would get access to certain GIFs or the ones they are looking for more easily.
