You probably think of GIFs as either the best or worst thing that’s ever happened to the internet. GIFs are a great way to precisely express emotions and to remember timeless pop culture moments. They’re also a great thing to waste time on online. Perhaps this is why Tumblr recently launched a GIF maker for your webcam, and why Pinterest is testing a playable GIFs feature in boards.
Playable GIFs on Pinterest
Some Pinterest users are seeing play buttons in the lower left-hand corner of GIFs pinned to the site, according to Mashable. Clicking the button makes the GIF come to life and clicking a second time pauses the GIF. Previously GIFs appeared as still images on Pinterest boards until users clicked through to the GIF’s original external source.
A Pinterest spokesperson confirmed that the company is testing out a playable GIFs feature, telling Mashable:
We’re always working on ways to help people discover and save the things they love, which can include animated GIFs. We’ve heard from the community that they’d like the ability to post and view GIFs as Pins, so we’re testing ways to make that happen.
The spokesperson declined to comment on when (or if) the feature will be officially rolled out to all users.
A Stab at Tumblr?
Currently Tumblr is one of the hottest sites for sourcing visual content because GIFs auto-play in the Tumblr dashboard. In fact, many GIFs on Pinterest are actually pinned from Tumblr! If Pinterest makes it easier to spot GIFs within the site, it could gain an edge over Tumblr when it comes to sourcing GIFs. Without an auto-play function similar to Tumblr’s, though, I don’t see GIFs receiving that much extra attention on Pinterest.
Curious to see whether the new GIFs feature has been rolled out to you? Search for “gif” on Pinterest and see if play buttons appear.
