Giphy helps people express themselves and make their everyday writing and creating more entertaining. We have integrated an app with Giphy to bring GIFs and stickers that teachers and students (who are at least 13 years old) can add right onto Book Creator pages.
Enable the Giphy app
There are multiple ways to enable an app in Book Creator.
From inside a book in edit mode, teachers will select the + button > select Apps > select Giphy and enable the app. Like all other apps that are integrated into Book Creator, teachers can choose to enable the app just for themselves, or they can select which libraries to allow students to use the app too.
Teachers can also access and enable Apps from the Teacher Dashboard, which can be accessed using the 3 line menu. On the top of the screen, teachers will see the tabs for Libraries, Discover, Learn, Certification, and Apps. Simply go to the Apps tab and enable the Giphy app and any other app available.
Admins also have the ability to enable and disable apps from the Admin Dashboard for all teachers and users within the organization. The support article for Managing Apps in the Admin Dashboard gives full details.
👑 Note: Teachers will need a premium subscription to be able to search and add Giphy GIFs and stickers to books. Free users have limited access to a variety of GIFs daily.
Teachers and admins must review Giphy's terms of service before using the app. Other important notes can be reviewed by clicking on the App Privacy details in the bottom left.
👉 Check out this one-pager for easy instructions on enabling all apps to share online or to print for the staffroom! 💫
Using Giphy inside Book Creator
Once the app is enabled, users can access Giphy when creating and editing a book. To use Giphy in edit mode, users should select the + button > select Apps > and select Giphy. The enabled apps for that library will appear above the Apps to try section.
When the app is opened, users can search for specific terms in the Giphy database by typing (or speaking using the microphone) in the search bar. Toggle the search results between GIFs and Stickers, then click on the desired GIF or drag it onto the page.
Safe search in Giphy
The Giphy integration in Book Creator currently is filtering content using their safest content rating level (Level 1 - G), but please note that this relies on the original GIF creators correctly rating their own submitted content.
In the terms of service and community guidelines, Giphy states that their app is not for students younger than 13 years old (and no students under the age of 16 who are citizens of the European Union, United Kingdom, Lichtenstein, Norway, or Iceland). This is because many of the search results may be unsuitable for young students.
Block unsuitable GIFs
Although the Giphy integration inside Book Creator users the safest filtering level available, the nature of the internet means no solution is 100% foolproof.
Knowing this, we've enabled the ability for teachers and admins to block unsuitable Giphy GIFs and Stickers that may appear in the search results by simply right-clicking on the thumbnail image and selecting Block this image. A red flag will appear in the bottom right corner of the image and this will immediately block the Giphy from being seen in any future search results for all users in all libraries associated with that teacher.
More information on blocking images can be found in this support article.
👉 Click here to find out more about other Apps available in Book Creator.