If you use GIFs on the internet there’s a very good chance you’ve used GIPHY, even if not intentionally. Facebook says 50% of all GIPHY’s traffic was already coming from its apps, half of which from Instagram alone. GIPHY will be a part of the Instagram team and the hope is to make it easier to send GIFs and stickers with Stories and direct messages.
The GIPHY API, which Facebook itself has been using in its products for years, will continue to exist for developers and partners. Many popular services rely on GIPHY’s API, including Twitter and Reddit. The company says GIPHY will retain its branding and continue to operate its library and creative tools for the community – at least for the time being. While Facebook did not disclose the financial terms of the deal, Axios‘ report suggests that the company had a valuation of around $400 million.
All of that sounds well and good for now, but Facebook is obviously buying GIPHY for a reason. It’s hard to see the service continue forever without any negative side effects for Facebook’s direct competitors who also rely on GIPHY for GIFs. What do you think about this news?
Facebook, however, will continue allowing Giphy users to upload and share GIFs just like how it is now. The service isn’t being folded and shuttered for the world because Facebook is not Apple. Giphy’s current integrations with Twitter, Snapchat, and TikTok are said to be in place as well.
“People will still be able to upload GIFs; developers and API partners will continue to have the same access to GIPHY’s APIs, and GIPHY’s creative community will still be able to create great content,” Shah added in the blog post.
Giphy’s primary competition in the GIF sharing space, Tenor, got acquired by Google in 2018. With Facebook’s ownership of Giphy, the competition between Tenor and Giphy is bound to get fierce and we will have to wait to see how that turns out.