Integration with GIF database Giphy seems to be rolling out to a small set of Instagram users, allowing them to overlay finds from Giphy on top of whatever they’re posting to their Instagram Story. According to users who have gotten the feature, with scattered reports now coming in from Indonesia, the Phillippines, and Brazil, users have access to a Giphy GIF search bar while posting something to their Instagram Story, and using that search bar will allow them to use whatever they find as a GIF sticker on top of their story. On top of the usual memes, funnies, and animated emoji that one may find on Giphy, it appears that the service now has a number of GIFs with transparent elements or that are partially transparent, made especially for this purpose.
This move comes not long after Facebook partnered up with Giphy, allowing users to search Giphy GIFs for things to stick in the comments sections of friends’ posts. Facebook owns Instagram, so it logically follows that Instagram users would eventually see similar functionality. Currently, Giphy integration for Instagram is a bit lacking; you can share a Giphy GIF to Instagram via a one-click conversion tool built right into Giphy’s site and app, but you can’t directly post GIF files onto Instagram, or use them in comment sections. Once the Giphy GIF function in Stories rolls out for all users, content from Giphy may well pop up in other places on Instagram in due time.
Instagram has been on a bit of a feature glut lately, with the app getting beta tests, slow rollouts, and brand new features across the board at a pace that rivals the likes of Google’s enterprise-focused G Suite, or even the official main and Messenger apps of Instagram’s parent company, Facebook. Recent examples, besides this one of course, include a feature that tells other users when you were last active on the app, and the ability to follow hashtags, letting users keep up with their favorite trends, topics, and subject areas, such as White House updates, or indie sci-fi writers posting their works on the platform, for example.