Users will now be able to make their Pinterest boards look more like their Tumblr pages, after Pinterest announced that its platform will now support animated GIFs.
In a blog post yesterday, Pinterest software engineer Ludo wrote that due to public demand, users will now be able to pin GIFs to their Pinterest boards. However, the GIFs will not play automatically, and will have to be clicked on to begin looping. Plus, the feature isn’t going to be available on mobile, but it will be in the future.
Adding GIFs to Pinterest is a natural fit for the highly visual platform. While they’ve traditionally been used for humorous intent, GIFs are remarkably versatile when it comes to creating emotion and engagement. Looking at some of the examples Pinterest listed, you can expect GIFs to become a big part of the Pinterest visual experience.
From fitness, to cooking, decoration and clothing, there are plenty of places where GIFs do a better job than static images, without requiring the extra work, or bandwidth of video. However, in order to be truly engaging, the GIFs need to play automatically, otherwise, they’re just another thing you have to click on to make it work. And who has that kind of time on the web?
