Alert! GIFs now 'work' on Facebook, thanks to Giphy

Facebook has videos, pictures, polls, weird "feelings" comments, long statuses, short statuses, and lots of ads, but until now, it didn't have those flashing reaction animations that really prove your wit. No more. Giphy announced today that it has created a code for embedding GIFs from its site onto Facebook. A Facebook spokesperson sent over a blunt official statement in response: "Facebook does not support animated GIFs."

OK, except with Giphy's workaround, it kind of sort of does.

GIFs on Facebook is big news, folks. Such big news, in fact, that Giphy.com briefly went down after releasing this groundbreaking workaround.

You can do it one of two ways: first, by hitting the Facebook button on Giphy itself and uploading directly from there; or second, by copying the URL code for the GIF and pasting it into a status as you would a video or article to share.

It's awesome. But not perfect. The GIF doesn't just flash natively on your timeline; it shows up like a video post. This is, we suppose, what Facebook's spokesperson meant by the insistence that Facebook does not support GIFs. Like with videos, there is a play icon that you must push in order for it to go into its GIFfy goodness.

But maybe that's a good thing. All my Mom's friends on Facebook who have never seen a GIF in their lives might have a heart attack if "the pictures just start moving on their own." Baby steps. Baby steps.