Weekly News 2

Gifs: 30 Years of reactions, dancing babies and popcorn 

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/sep/18/gif-30-years-reactions-dancing-babies-popcorn-internet

Key Data/ Statistical Info

• The gif, or graphics interchange format, was created by programmer Steve Wilhite, who longed for an image format that could be used across different computer platforms.
• Meanwhile, Facebook added gifs to Messenger in 2015
• Gif keyboards are also now common, with Apple adding one to Messages in iOS 10 and Google’s Gboard launched with gif support in 2016.

The article talks about the ''gif''(graphics interchange format) and how its been used for 30 years. The gif is now part of ''internet culture'' and is used in various social media sites, such as Twitter and Facebook, to ''express ourselves without proper words''.  Some examples of gifs include: Deal With It, Dancing Baby, and Michael Jackson eating popcorn. The article also mentions how people can now create their own gifs, as a way of expressing a certain emotion or response. 

I think that gifs are a perfect example of how NDM is revolved around interacting with a large audience, on several different platforms. Indeed, gifs have allowed to ''cut down'' our texting time, and instead respond with a ''moving image'' that perfectly describes our feelings. I also think that it has played a huge part in how quickly a certain demographic (especially a younger one) is able to react to a certain topic or debate. The gif, not only allows users to express themselves easily, but also increases engagement and within different communities.