It became known that Facebook bought the Giphy animated image search and storage service. Facebook is expected to deep integrate the Giphy library into Instagram (where GIFs are particularly common in Stories) and other services. Although the deal was not announced in an official Facebook message, according to Axios, we are talking about $ 400 million.
βBy bringing Instagram and Giphy together, we will make it easier for users to find the right GIFs and stickers in Stories and Direct,β Facebook VP of Product Vishal Shah wrote in a blog post.
It's worth noting that Facebook has used the Giphy service API over the past years to provide the ability to search and add GIFs across different services. According to Facebook, Instagram alone accounts for about 25% of Giphy's daily traffic, with the company's other apps accounting for another 25% of traffic. In a company announcement, it was noted that going forward, Facebook will continue to make the Giphy service open to a vast ecosystem.
Users will still be able to upload and share GIFs. Developers and service partners will be able to continue using the Giphy API to access a huge library of gifs, stickers and emoticons. Giphy partners include such popular services as Twitter, Slack, Skype, TikTok, Tinder, etc.
Source: 3dnews.ru