GIFs are the lingua franca of Twitter. They can express complex ideas and emotions that can’t fit into a Tweet, create humor and levity, or add a personal touch to a reply. In higher education, we use them constantly to congratulate students when they’ve just been accepted, share the excitement of the school year starting, or wish students luck on final exams.

But what happens when your audience doesn’t get the pop culture reference or worse, the celebrity featured in the GIF becomes the topic of controversy you do not what associated with your institution? To solve this the University of Central Arkansas created a GIPHY channel featuring university branded GIFs and GIF stickers featuring the school mascot, logos and even the university president.

In this session we will discuss how to successfully launch a GIPHY channel, create GIF stickers, and make the best use of the GIFs you create.

Notes:

• Why in higher ed should we be using gifs?
  • Can indicate a more active listening response. “I hear you”
• Why create gifs?
  • Easy to use branded content.
  • Can bypass the risks of pop culture gifs.
  • engagement,
  • engagement
  • engagement
• You don’t have to be on a platform to have a presence on a platform
  • Get a giffy page
  • tag tag tag
  • stick with a ‘g’ rating to stay in search