Twitter Introduces a Built-In GIF Button So You Can React to Everything
This can only mean more feels, hotter takes, and a whole lot less hassle.

GIFs are great. They’re quick, expressive bundles of pop-culture emotion that let us express ourselves on the internet. But finding the perfect GIF can be a hassle, so Twitter announced today that they were upgrading their previously-clunky media embedding system with a GIF-search function, allowing users to drop in any media from the encyclopediac archives of Giphy and Riffsy.
Users, predictably, celebrated with lots of GIFs.
twitter gives you gifs to choose from😍 pic.twitter.com/i4PYohy7q4
— TLA™ (@_theylovearii) February 17, 2016
Of course, major updates take time, and not everyone was first in line at the GIF store. Some resorted to tautology as their only outlet.
I want to post a frustrated/sad gif cos I have no gif button BUT I HAVE NO GIF BUTTON... 😱😭
— Alice Bailey (@AliceBaileyLS8) February 17, 2016
The update comes in the middle of what has been a rough winter for Twitter, with several media outlets diagnosing the app with a terminal case of user base boredom. Never fear, says Twitter, GIFs are here!
When all tweets are GIFS, Twitter will have a billion users. pic.twitter.com/1ym0x8PVE6
— Jason Stein (@jasonwstein) February 17, 2016
The update also includes the ability to send short videos in direct messages, which Twitter obviously intends for friends to use to make each other jealous with vacation videos, but will actually just give people sliding into DMs another medium to be creepy in.
Starting today, you can capture & share videos in your Direct Messages. It’s rolling out globally on iOS & Android. pic.twitter.com/b5CgWyTQ3H
— Twitter Support (@Support) February 17, 2016
Currently, sharing videos only works on iOS and Android, but the GIF-option should come out on the website client as well for everyone over the next few weeks. Twitter joins Gmail and now Microsoft Outlook in the GIF-game, which looks to be hot real estate this year — Giphy just announced its total value has hit $300 million.
Here’s Twitter’s GIF-heavy announcement of the new program.
— Twitter (@twitter) February 17, 2016
— Twitter (@twitter) February 17, 2016
— Twitter (@twitter) February 17, 2016
— Twitter (@twitter) February 17, 2016