Texting is for your most intimate friends. WhatsApp is for international folks. Facebook Messenger is for groups and people you don’t know very well. And Instagram DM–that’s a place to hang with your besties and keep in contact with all those acquaintances who randomly feel the need to comment on your beach day pics.
Today, Instagram DM gets even better. The social media platform has partnered with Giphy, the undisputed king of the GIF, to let you send GIFs directly through DM without ever leaving the app.
It works like this: While inside of a message thread, tap the new GIF button that will appear next to the photos icon. From there, you can browse and search for GIFs to send, just like you might via iMessage. The update also has a feature that lets users see who created the GIFs they’re using, providing an opportunity to discover GIF creators if you’re really into a particular GIF aesthetic.
The partnership smartly doubles down on Instagram’s continued growth as a messaging platform, giving its DMs more functionality so that people stay on the app rather than switching to another one. Plus, who couldn’t use more GIFs in their life?
GIFs are now available on the latest version of Instagram, both on iOS and Android.
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