You can now send GIFs in Instagram Direct

Instagram is slowly but surely building its Direct platform as a global and convenient messaging product, which is smart considering that Instagram is increasingly serving a younger audience who never uses Facebook anymore. . The new feature that arrives today is GIF support by Giphy. You can now send animated GIF files in a direct message or a direct group chat.

There is now a new GIF button in Direct. From there, you can search for trend GIFs, perform a keyword search for specific keywords, or use a "random" option to send a surprise GIF based on your keyword search term. The feature arrives on iOS and Android as of today, and Instagram points out that each GIF shared through the new feature will include attribution to content creators, so users know who created the animation they share . Instagram also includes a "see everything by the creator" option to help promote the creators and their work on the platform.