Great Gifs, Great Journalism?

Gifs, and pictures, and captions! Oh my!

Gif’s have been around for a lot longer than most might think. They’ve actually been around since the 80s, but have massively increased in popularity over the last few years. The excess of new technology has created this environment that’s more conducive to new creative types of media. Thus the world of gifs and pictures and videos have taken on a new light for journalists.

Using gifs in media depends a lot on the media that accompanies it. Using a gif on Twitter has a different connotation than using a gif on a tool like Facebook. They have different audiences, different styles of writing, and different means of communicating information.

Gifs on Twitter have become a staple to relaying information. Many underground journalists and independent news sites use gifs with their tweets as an eye catching way of further emphasizing their caption or their tweets. Popular news journalist Philip DeFranco often use gifs on his tweets to promote to his Youtube channel. When you’re scrolling down Twitter, it isn’t uncommon to see gifs and want to know what it’s in regard to.

Gifs can also be used as solitary means of storytelling in some cases. Gifs taken from movies or pictures with captions can be full stories in their own right, without the need of supplementary information.

This clip from the 90’s sitcom A Different World summarizes a really intense and iconic scene from the television show. While it doesn’t take you on the journey that watching the whole show does, it brings a sense of nostalgia and joy for those who know what it is. It also illustrates a powerful message that, in my opinion, stands well on its own. It isn’t, however, a substitute for a lengthy, researched journalistic piece.

Lots of gifs have been adapted from famous movie or television scenes. This way of taking one snippet of a piece of media tells an entire story or summarizes the concept in a fun succinct way.

I don’t necessarily believe that gifs are the future of journalism. But I do see a world where journalists can take this tool and use it to set them apart in their work. Gifs can be a useful supplementary tool to elevate an already good piece of writing, but I don’t think they should be used as a replacement for all the grit that comes with a really meaty piece of good journalism.