Our online lives are about to get worse as Facebook is buying our popular source for gifs – Giphy.
I guess the company has gotten tired of cloning Zoom.
The gif-making app and site will reportedly be acquired for $400m by the giant social network according to Axios.
Facebook already use Giphy’s API’s to supply gifs to its apps including Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger and its main app.
Facebook says that its apps drive 50% traffic to Giphy – half of it just from Instagram.
When the deal is done, expect Giphy to live under Instagram’s team. This full integration will enable users to send stickers, GIFs in DMs and Stories.
However, it will be interesting to see how this acquisition will look like as other social media platforms also source their Gifs from GIPHY including Slack, Pinterest, Reddit and Twitter.
Privacy Concerns Raised
For $400M, Facebook just bought GIPHY’s surveillance into visual communication trends in every app. pic.twitter.com/NH9TYy8eOT
— joshconstine (@JoshConstine) May 15, 2020
since this is more important now, a reminder that giphy's client SDK requires developers to give access to the device tracking ID
— dom hofmann (@dhof) May 15, 2020
Time to disconnect Giphy from enterprise social tools like Teams and Slack. Your corporate chat streams are going to be full of Facebook tracking beacons if you don't…
— Simon Bisson #StayHome (@sbisson) May 15, 2020
Giphy will keep all its existing integrations with other apps like Twitter, which means Facebook gets the data on those API calls, which will give the company insight into what people are using beyond Facebook.
— Sarah Frier (@sarahfrier) May 15, 2020
Does anyone know if Apple uses Giphy for iMessage GIFs? Unclear where Apple sources that library from.
— Steve Kovach (@stevekovach) May 15, 2020
The evil empire grows! https://t.co/IbFQERoKKV
— GSS (@GymShortsStuds) May 15, 2020
Does this mean the gifs embedded in our IMs are also now Facebook tracking beacons? Is this why Facebook bought them? https://t.co/ElCOoNJj8s
— 🥴 (@can) May 15, 2020
Giphy was valued at $600M in 2016, and there were reports it was close to a big funding round in 2018 that I don't think materialized. Its rival Tenor was gobbled up by Google that year.
Any gif startups left that Twitter can buy next? https://t.co/z4w7LMdxU3
— Alex Konrad (@alexrkonrad) May 15, 2020
Giphy was good while it lasted https://t.co/sIP7y7GqNj
— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) May 15, 2020
Gif directories are of no intrinsic monetary value except by providing additional value to other services; withdrawing that value from those other services; or using the download process to track you across the web. Have fun watching that integration.
— Aram Zucker-Scharff (@Chronotope) May 15, 2020
My take: Facebook buying Giphy is less about engagement and more about data. Think about it: Even if FB can’t see the private messages you’re sending, if they can see the GIFs you’re searching for, they get a clue about how you’re thinking & feeling. https://t.co/4wxaS9gqQX
— Jon Fortt (@jonfortt) May 15, 2020
Everything Facebook does is so shady https://t.co/6gBGAZ9rcG
— Dave Smith (@redletterdave) May 15, 2020
What They Are Saying
Instagram’s VP of product, Vishal Shah: People will still be able to upload GIFs; developers and API partners will continue to have the same access to Giphy’s APIs, and Giphy’s creative community will still be able to create great content.
