GIF, once called “the file format of the internet generation”, is declining in use as young users say GIFs are “cringe” and MP4 videos make the format outdated
The internet's file format has been diagnosed as “cringe,” but there are other threats to its existence. Tweets: @apollozac , @ianbetteridge , @cooksipgo , @kendallbaker , @laurenshippen , @mangmangmang , @mcmurrym , @david_o_bedlam , @mattnavarra , @marinakoren , @adriennelaf , @dlberes , and @kait_tiffany Tweets: Zac Hall / @apollozac : It's pronounced em-pe-five https://twitter.com/... Ian Betteridge / @ianbetteridge : See, I knew this would happen as soon as they decided it was pronounced jif not gif. https://www.theatlantic.com/ ... Dave Cole / @cooksipgo : An on-point GIF will always resonate. The death of the GIF has been greatly exaggerated. Signed, An elder millennial https://twitter.com/... Kendall Baker / @kendallbaker : As long as newsletters exist and are thriving (it's not possible to embed videos in them), GIFs are gold https://twitter.com/... Lauren Shippen / @laurenshippen : I don't feel strongly about gifs as reactions (tho I still use them even tho its “cringe") but I love that @kait_tiffany discusses that @tumblr is a unique gif ecosystem in this article + even that is under threat given the declining use of gifs. which to me, would be disastrous! https://twitter.com/... @mangmangmang : I'm glad to learn that gifs are dying, and I have serenely witnessed their rise and fall without ever learning how to use them https://www.theatlantic.com/ ... Matt McMurry / @mcmurrym : I'm sad as I read this. I'm no Gif expert in curation or creation, but ❤️ Gifs as a hobby. The tech can evolve beyond the old gif type, but the use of the content dwindling is a sad story. Gifs and emojis and emoticons share more than just text ever could. https://www.theatlantic.com/ ... David S / @david_o_bedlam : From the perspective of cultural-linguistic history this is so, so interesting, a slang or idiolect upon which an entire industry was built, now collapsing from uncoolness in the same way that slang words and vocabularies fall out of fashion https://www.theatlantic.com/ ... Matt Navarra / @mattnavarra : Why the GIF is on Its Deathbed https://www.theatlantic.com/ ... Marina Koren / @marinakoren : I'm a sucker for reaction gifs but this is a fascinating @kait_tiffany story: https://www.theatlantic.com/ ... Adrienne LaFrance / @adriennelaf : “What I would like to suggest is that the situation is even worse than it appears. Not only are reaction GIFs ‘cringe’ to some people, but the entire GIF medium is under serious existential threat.” @kait_tiffany's latest: https://www.theatlantic.com/ ... Damon Beres / @dlberes : Reaction gifs are over, “cringe,” whatever, yes, we get it. But the actual .GIF file format is also facing an existential threat thanks to the rise of better video compression and the .MP4. What will we gain? What will we lose? @kait_tiffany explores! https://www.theatlantic.com/ ... Kaitlyn Tiffany / @kait_tiffany : i wrote a short one about the human urge to create perfect animated loops: https://www.theatlantic.com/ ...