GIFs are a major form of communication online, used for reactions, punchlines to jokes, simple greetings, and just about anything else.
If you’ve spent any time messing around with GIFs, you’ve probably spent some time with GIPHY. The site is a GIF search engine and an essential stop for anyone who spends a good portion of their life online.
We here at Mashable have shown you how to easily make GIFs from YouTube videos on GIPHY, but the site has a bunch of other cool features. That in mind, we hit up the experts at GIPHY to see what cool tools people might not know about. Jonny McLaughlin, a senior staff engineer at GIPHY, was kind enough to send along some demos of cool tools — so, without further ado, here are 7 things you didn’t know you could do on GIPHY.
1. It’s super easy to make a still image into an animated GIF
Most folks know you can make a GIF out of all kinds of media on GIPHY. But McLaughlin shared how a quick how-to on making a GIF out of a still image. Basically, GIPHY has built-in animation tools that can take your change your photo in no time at all. You can add animated text, effects, or even filters that get the job done, here’s how McLaughlin explains it.
2. GIPHY has an arcade
I mean, it’s exactly what it sounds like. You can play and make retro-style arcade games on GIPHY. I, for one, just attempted to play a game where you’re an astronaut who blasts asteroids. (I was awful at it.)
The arcade product launched in October and it’s pretty easy to make games you can share with friends. Here, McLaughlin walks you through making a game with a dancing corn fighting off bad vibes.
3. GIPHY but make it business
GIPHY isn’t all fun and games. OK, it kind of is, but GIFs can help with work stuff like presentation slides and emails.
All you need to do is download a Chrome or Outlook extension and you’ll suddenly have a little tool that makes it simple to insert a GIF into emails and slides. McLaughlin also shows how you can drag and drop GIPHY GIFs into presentations.
4. A whole mess of Slack stuff
Pretty much everyone who uses the messaging tool Slack uses the /Giphy function. Basically you ask GIPHY for a GIF on whatever subject you desire. But there are tons of other things the tool can do in Slack.
GIPHY broke it down in detail in this blog post, but here’s the gist of some tools you may not know about:
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/giphy #caption <insert phrase here> – Basically you can find a GIF with the exact caption you want.
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/giphy #caption “quote” – type that in with your exact quote and you’ll get a GIF saying whatever you want.
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/giphy #8ball <insert question here> – Just a fun little tool to ask an 8ball for answers
5. All kinds of mobile fun
GIPHY’s mobile app is helpful for people who want easy GIF access on their phones. But you can actually use it to make custom GIFs and stickers of yourself. It’s super silly and really easy. McLaughlin explained how to do it.
6. Favoriting
OK, this is really simple, but you can fav any GIF on GIPHY by simply clicking the heart button next to the image. This will save the GIF for you if you want to use it later.
While you do need to have an account to fav, it makes it much easier to find GIFs you love when you’re on your phone or shooting off a quick email. Here’s where the favorite button is.
Image: Screenshot / giphy
7. GIPHY backdrops for the endless video calls
And finally, GIPHY released its backdrop tool just this month. Basically, since we’re on all endless video calls during the pandemic, GIPHY made a tool that makes it easy to create an animated background for your call. You can find it here.
Here’s a quick primer on how it works:
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