The social media giant Facebook Friday declared that it’s acquiring the popular GIF-sharing platform service GIPHY and the plan is to integrate the Giphy library into Instagram and other Facebook-owned services. Facebook paid $400 million for the acquisition of GIPHY.
“A lot of people in our community already know and love GIPHY. In fact, 50% of GIPHY’s traffic comes from the Facebook family of apps, half of that from Instagram alone. By bringing Instagram and GIPHY together, we can make it easier for people to find the perfect GIFs and stickers in Stories and Direct. Both our services are big supporters of the creator and artist community, and that will continue. Together, we can make it easier for anyone to create and share their work with the world” Vishal Shah, VP of Product Facebook, said in a statement.
Facebook has been using GIPHY’s API for years on Instagram, as well as in major Facebook apps Messenger and WhatsApp.GIPHY will continue to operate its library (including its global content collection).
the company expects further investment in technology and content and relationships with API partners. Giphy is part of the Instagram team, making it easier for users to share GIFs in stories and personal messages.
