Facebook Is Now Testing GIFs for Page Posts, Ads

But according to TechCrunch, Wendy’s and Coke-owned German soda Kuat are the first to test out actual GIFs on the social network.

GIFs can not go in the small sidebar ads the company is phasing out, only “Boosted” Page posts, which compose most of the ads observed in feed.

Facebook hasn’t natively provided support for animated GIFs to be posted in comments, but there’s a way around that.

After rolling out GIFs to user pages in May, Facebook is now opening up the animated clips to a small percentage of brand pages. They would analyze whether it provides a great experience for people before offering it to more Pages. Facebook also has made moves to support GIFs to build on the success of autoplay video.

It was sort of fun when Facebook started allowing users to upload animated GIFs a few months ago, but now select advertisers get to experiment with the format.

It remains to be seen whether the novel advertising plan will work or not. The GIF ads are being tested as we speak, and the future of this new strategy depends primarily on the user.

Facebook declined to say how many brands are testing these ads out. However, if the eye grabbing Page posts and ads drive business without irritating users then all companies might soon be provided with the option to animate their News Feed.

We’re talking about the short videos or compilations of still images known as GIFs.

If Facebook’s smart, it will take a very aggressive approach to how the News Feed treats these posts in order to preserve the user experience. The company would do well to keep in mind that advertisements must revolve around the user experience and not the other way round.