Betaworks-Backed Giphy Launches Gif Link Shortener For Twitter And Facebook

Giphy, the betaworks-backed search engine for gifs, has released a brand new tool that makes sharing gifs on social networks even easier and more efficient.

Giphy is a search platform that is based entirely around gifs, with artist profiles so that creators can get more exposure and easy sharing tools for social media. However, without in-line integration on Facebook or Twitter people still have to click through to view the content. Otherwise, users had to save the gif and upload it to the network, thus stripping Giphy of any and all credit for the image.

Launching today with the help of brands like Nike, Giphy is now able to shorten links (to your own content, like a blog or product page) and automatically attach an in-line gif of your choosing.

dogcatHere’s an example: I can go on Giphy, find the image (at right), and insert a link to this post. It will then generate a shortlink, which can be shared on Twitter or Facebook, and the gif itself will appear as the preview image on Facebook or in-line on Twitter. However, when users click through to the link they’ll be directed back to this post.

It’s brilliant, and according to the company, Giphy is the only service that is whitelisted to do this on Twitter.

Giphy was first born out of betaworks’ Hacker In Residence program, which is the same program where Dots and Poncho launched. The team is now at 12 people, and still working out of the betaworks office in Lower Manhattan.

The Gif Shortener tool is available now for free on the site, and already being used by Nike and BuzzFeed.

You can check out Giphy here.