Facebook starts testing GIF support in Comments
Facebook is all set to begin testing a GIF button that will allow users to use services such as Giphy and Tenor for posting GIFs as comments.
According to a report by TechCrunch, Facebook stated, “Everyone loves a good GIF and we know that people want to be able to use them in comments. So we’re about to start testing the ability to add GIFs to comments and we’ll share more when we can, but for now we repeat that this is just a test.”
Initially, the GIF comment button will be available to a select group of people and later, will be rolled out to everyone. It will work similarly to the GIF button spotted on Facebook Messenger, allowing users to both browse trending GIFs and search for specific reactions too.
Interestingly, Facebook may also add a new reaction called "Dislike" for Facebook Messenger. In February this year, the social-media giant celebrated the first anniversary of “Reactions” and recorded 300 billion “Reactions” on posts and the “Love” reaction was used maximum times by its over 1.79 billion users.
The report also points out that Facebook is diving headfirst into visual communication, following Snapchat’s lead as social media usage evolves from text statuses to rich media. Most of that focus has been on video. However, Facebook sees flexibility as crucial to keeping users from straying to other broadcast channels.
