Here's How You Can Share GIFs on Facebook

Facebook is more fun with moving images. GIFs, that is.

A GIF is simply an image format that captures a short scene of moving images in a movie-like format. But since it's only an image, there's no sound.

Facebook now allows users to post GIFs in their status updates, in comments and in private messages. Here's how.

When you click Make a Post on Facebook.com or Post from your profile within the mobile app, you'll see a list of options appear beneath the post field. Scroll down through these options until you see GIF and click or tap it.

A grid of popular suggested GIFs will appear, built directly into Facebook for your convenience. Select one that you like to automatically insert it into the post field or use the search field to find a GIF based on a specific keyword.

Note that you can only post GIFs in comments on your own posts or on friends' posts. You can't post GIFs in comments of posts from pages that you've liked.

Click or tap the Comment option beneath a post and look for the GIF icon that appears at the right side of the comment field. Click or tap it to view a list of suggested GIFs or use the search field to look for one based on a keyword. When you've found one you want to insert into your comment, click or tap on it.

If you're using Messenger from Facebook.com, you should be able to see a GIF icon within the list of other icons beneath the chat field in the message box for the friend you're currently messaging. Click on that to see a list of suggested GIFs or search for one to insert into your message.

If you're using the Messenger app, open a chat with a friend or group and tap on the plus sign (+) to the left of the chat field. A menu of icons will pop up, which you can scroll through until you see one labeled GIFs. Tap on it to see a list of suggested GIFs or search for one to insert into your message.

Here are some of the other ways you can easily share GIFs Facebook, but you should know about some of the limitations as well.

You can:

• Find a link to a GIF hosted on another site, like Imgur or Giphy.
• Copy and paste the link into your status, which will automatically detect that it's an animation and will place a GIF icon over it.
• Post it so it will be seen as fully animated when it shows up in your friends' feeds.
• Adjust your auto-play video settings so that either the GIF will play automatically inline or show the GIF icon until a viewer clicks or taps to play it.

You can't:

• Upload an existing GIF image from your computer or device to post as an animated image on Facebook.
• Post a GIF to a Facebook brand page or in an ad.

If you're interested in looking for more great GIFs to share with your friends, check out this list of places to find some of the funniest GIFs online.

Downloading the free Giphy app for iPhone or Android is another fun and convenient option you have for inserting GIFs into Facebook Messenger. You can use the app to choose one of their top trending apps or use the search function to find a specific one.

Your friends don't need to have the Giphy app installed in order to see your GIFs, but if you enjoy seeing GIFs a lot more than still images and plain text, you may want to recommend that they download the app as well so they can start using their favorite GIFs when interacting with you and others on Facebook.