We are in the midst of an animated GIF renaissance. What was once a relic of the Web 1.0 era, with MySpace connotations and an 8-bit Nintendo sensibility, can now be considered a timely medium.
More compelling than a static photo and more immediate than Web video, the animated GIF (correctly pronounced with a soft g) is a uniquely digital mode of conveying ideas and emotion. Like the Twitter hashtag, which has transitioned from a functional way of sorting content to its own part of speech, the animated GIF has gone from a simple file type to its own mode of expression. GIFs have grown up, and they are everywhere right now.
Read the full piece at poynter.org
