Animated GIFs are the perfect way to convey what you are feeling especially if you feel overwhelmed or just can’t find the right words to express yourself. Below is a short history of GIFs and their impact on today’s social media.
A Brief History of Animated GIFs
In 1987, Steve Wilhite, a software writer, invented a GIF (Graphical Interchange Format), a series of graphics, in a loop, without sound. It was used to make moving graphics in the early web days. You may remember graphics such as flames, waving flags, or mailbox icons. Later, with the improvements on the web, they became forgotten as they are old-fashioned and belonged to the early web times. Then, later in the 2000s, with the software technology changes, it suddenly hit back people’s interest. Do you know the flipbooks from the old school days? Remember how it was funny and also exciting? They were used to having fun, expressing feelings, and being a kind of socializing tool in those times. Today, GIFs or animated GIFs have the same function and are simple but effective on the web.
Animated GIFs are all around the web, on web pages, emails, and social media platforms. This is because they are easy to make, share, and use. After all, we love using GIFs as a joke, memes, or animated images. They are impressive and shared with friends a lot. You’ve seen them many times, in millions of different versions, and it seems it won’t stop. It is a very useful tool for social media marketing, and an efficient way to interact with audiences. Why wouldn’t you use this simple and brilliant item to increase your media impression on your social media marketing campaigns?
Let’s see how to use it.
Creating Animated GIFs – Using GIF Maker or GIF Editor
Good news! Thanks to the tech guys, you don’t have to be an expert on software like photoshop. Just with simple computer knowledge, you can create amazing GIFs for your jokes, memes, or marketing campaign. Below I will share some good examples of GIF makers or GIF editors with you, with plenty of them available on the web. They are the websites that you make your GIFs with from pictures, images, and even videos. In addition, you’ll be capable to convert your video to GIFs and it also allows you to edit and customize GIFs.
You can create your own original GIFs, but there are also many pre-made GIFs on the web, ready to use directly or for you to edit. Just use the magic word ‘free’ and search ‘free gif’ or ‘free gifs’. Although they are mostly free to use, don’t forget to look at the copyright to avoid any illegal use.
Let’s check out some examples of animated GIF makers, GIF editors, or pre-made GIF sources:
It is a well-known web-based GIF maker and editor with huge GIF collections. With a simple user interface, easy-to-use editing tools, and easy to share your GIF. You can paste the URL of the video or upload your file and start to convert the video to GIF as you like.
Again, It is perfect for converting videos to GIF sources like Youtube and Instagram, just by typing the URL of the video. in addition, there are useful tools for editing and it is easy to use.
It is a good place to create animated GIFs and slideshows for images. You have many options for your GIF such as size, speed, repeat, etc.
It is similar to Gifmaker.me and you can create GIFs from multiple images and videos. Editing such as adding text, changing delay, and image size are available. If you don’t want a watermark on your GIF, you can become a PRO member.
Google is making life easier as always since you can find many more examples of GIFs on it. Just search for what you want and select images. You then click tools and change the search type to GIFs. You’ll love it!
