It’s no secret that Giphy thinks the future of communication is visual. And of course stickers are a big part of that – Japanese chat app Line makes hundreds of millions of dollars a year just from selling stickers.
But Giphy thinks that stickers can be used as visual commentary in places beyond chat. So today they’re launching Giphy Sticker Embed, which is a tool that (when activated by a website) lets users drag and drop stickers anywhere on a mobile or desktop web page.
Technically speaking, the tool is pretty simple. Sticker Embed is an open-source site-side JavaScript plugin that developers can add to their website. Developers can plug in any of Giphy’s sticker packs, or create their own custom sticker pack to use. Users then see a toggle in the bottom right corner, and can move, resize and stick stickers anywhere on the page. Check out the GIF below for an example:
At first glance the feature sounds silly – why would anyone want to waste their time putting stickers on a website that they’ll leave in a few seconds when they click to a new page? And why would site creators want to add stickers that distract from their own content? One word…engagement.
Tom Smith, Giphy’s Director of Product, explained that the company thinks this visual commentary tool will spur engagement on any site. Users will place stickers to turn static websites into a personalized creation, which they may then want to screenshot and share with their friends. And for websites this means higher engagement stats (a user playing with stickers could spend twice as long on a page), as well as the potential for a viral marketing tool if users start sending each other screenshots of their sticker creations with the website in the background.
You can try out the feature now on Thought Catalogue and Quote Catalogue, two of Giphy’s launch partners. But since this is an open source plugin expect to see more sites adding it soon.