Quite recently, Twitter introduced GIFs to their platform, and a lot of users are ecstatic about the upgrade. Being a heavy social media user myself, this reminded me of when Tumblr, a blogging website, began to incorporate GIFs (this was quite a number of years ago).

And so, I was led to think about how so much emphasis and attention is placed on these small moving images. Why is that so? Could it be that it is easier to express oneself through GIFs? Maybe – seeing as how Twitter and Tumblr are both platforms to pour out one’s personal thoughts and ideas about a certain subject.

Or could it be that it is more engaging? Perhaps stagnant photographs are not sufficient. But I guess that is true to a certain extent – people are so used to moving visuals; life is constantly in motion. Wouldn’t it be disturbing to see the world outside, unmoving, as in photographs?

GIFs are important, serving as these micro-videos that don’t require much of your attention span. They are often very short, serving its purpose to propagate a quick message with ease. That kind of reminds me of online videos in general, that they should not necessarily be short, but at least hold a viewer’s attention long enough so the message is delivered.