Facebook buys GIPHY to further integrate GIFs into Instagram

Everyone loves animated GIFs, and it appears that Facebook is a bigger fan than most as the company has just announced that it is purchasing the massive GIF sharing service GIPHY. According to a report from Axios, Facebook is buying the GIF sharing service for $400 million.

Facebook Buys GIPHY

Facebook posted about its plans after buying GIPHY on its blog. While Facebook already used GIPHY’s API for WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, and Facebook proper, the company is planning to integrate the service more heavily into Instagram and its other apps now that the company owns the GIF service. The company said, “By bringing Instagram and GIPHY together, we can make it easier for people to find the perfect GIFs and stickers in Stories and Direct.”

The social networking giant says that 50% of GIPHY’s traffic already comes from Facebook’s collection of apps and services. Of that, half comes from Instagram, which makes it clear that this is a move that makes sense.

In the blog post, the company said that GIPHY would continue to run its library as it had in the past. It also said that users would be able to share GIFs in the way they always have before the purchase.

There are tons of other services that rely on GIPHY’s API to serve animated images to its users. Facebook said that those firms would continue to have access to the API. The company specifically called out investing in GIPHY’s technology and relationships, which makes it sound like the company is planning to keep working with services like Twitter, Pinterest, Slack, Reddit, and others. Of course, time will tell if those companies choose to use GIPHY or look for an alternative now that Facebook owns it.

In the end, it sounds like things shouldn’t change too much after Facebook purchases GIPHY, at least for the time being. Of course, that could always shift down the road as Facebook integrates GIPHY more heavily into its ecosystem.