:Tenor (website)
{{short description|Search engine}}
{{redirect-distinguish|Google Tenor|Google Tensor}}
{{other uses|Tenor (disambiguation)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}
{{Infobox website
| company_name = Tenor, Inc.
| company_logo = Tenor logo.svg
| company_type =
| traded_as =
| foundation =
| dissolved =
| location = San Francisco, California, United States
| locations = 3
| incorporated =
| area_served = Worldwide
| founder = David McIntosh
Erick Hachenburg
Frank Nawabi
| chairman =
| chairperson =
| president =
| CEO = David McIntosh
| MD =
| GM =
| key_people =
| industry =
| products = GIF Keyboard
| services =
| revenue =
| operating_income =
| net_income =
| assets =
| equity =
| owner = Google
| num_employees =
| parent =
| divisions =
| subsid =
| url = {{url|https://tenor.com/}}
| programming_language =
| website_type = Search engine
GIF hosting website
| predecessor = Riffsy
| advertising =
| registration = Optional
| num_users = 300+ Million (Monthly)
| language =
| launch_date = Feb 1, 2014{{cn|date=July 2021}}
| current_status = Website working
| collapsible = yes
| collapsetext = Screenshot
| screenshot = Tenor home page.png
| caption =
| footnotes = {{Cite web |url=https://tenor.com/about-us |title=Tenor - About us |access-date=2018-02-09}}{{Cite news |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathleenchaykowski/2017/09/19/inside-tenors-plan-to-power-gif-sharing-on-every-mobile-phone/#248318973ee9 |title=How Tenor Aims To Get GIF-Sharing Onto Every Mobile Phone |date=September 19, 2017 |work=Forbes |access-date=2018-02-09}}{{Cite news |url=https://techcrunch.com/2016/08/09/gif-keyboard-maker-riffsy-gets-a-new-name-tenor-and-opens-up-an-sdk/ |title=GIF Keyboard maker Riffsy gets a new name, Tenor, and opens up an SDK |date=Aug 9, 2016 |work=TechCrunch |access-date=2018-02-09}}{{Cite news |url=https://www.elitedaily.com/p/trump-gifs-since-the-election-show-americas-feelings-in-the-last-year-3241632 |title=Trump Gifs Since The Election Show America's Feelings In The Last Year |date=November 8, 2017 |work=Elite Daily |access-date=2018-02-21}}
}}
Tenor, Inc.{{Cite web |date=2013-08-03 |title=Tenor, Inc. |url=https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_de/5400106 |access-date=2023-08-20 |website=OpenCorporates}} is an online GIF search engine and database owned by Google. Its main product is the GIF Keyboard, which is available on Android, iOS, and macOS.{{Cite news |url=https://www.recode.net/2017/2/19/14651440/gifs-messaging-tenor-giphy-search-emotions-monetize |title=People love GIFs — but turning GIFs into ad dollars is taking some time |date=Feb 19, 2017 |work=Recode |access-date=2018-02-18}}
History
The company was founded by entrepreneurs David Macintosh, Erick Hachenburg and Frank Nawabi in February 2014 as Riffsy. Tenor was funded by Redpoint Ventures, Menlo Ventures, Cowboy Ventures and Tenaya Capital.{{Cite web |url=https://uploadvr.com/tenor-lets-developers-put-gifs-augmented-reality-apps-games/ |title=Tenor Lets Developers Put GIFs Into Augmented Reality Apps And Games |date=September 10, 2017 |website=UploadVR |access-date=2018-02-09 |archive-date=2018-02-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180209182439/https://uploadvr.com/tenor-lets-developers-put-gifs-augmented-reality-apps-games/ |url-status=dead }}
On March 27, 2018, Tenor was acquired by Google. The company has continued to operate as a standalone brand.{{Cite web|url=https://techcrunch.com/2018/03/27/google-acquires-gif-platform-tenor/|title=Google is acquiring GIF platform Tenor|website=TechCrunch|language=en-US|access-date=2018-03-27}}
Since 2024, Tenor has been flooded by millions of crypto advertisement GIFs by spam creator 'BlazzordNFT'. This has made the service increasingly unusable. The issue is on-going in 2025, since despite numerous fraud reports, Google and Tenor have taken no action.{{cn|date=May 2025}}
Partnerships
Tenor is available in numerous keyboards and messaging apps.{{Cite web |url=https://qz.com/1239464/google-is-buying-tenor-to-make-it-easier-to-find-the-perfect-gif/ |title=The world's biggest search engine is upgrading its GIF game |date=2018-03-28 |website=Quartz |access-date=2018-11-25}}
On April 25, 2017, Tenor introduced an app that makes GIFs available in MacBook Pro's Touch Bar.{{Cite news |url=https://www.macrumors.com/2017/04/25/tenor-first-touch-bar-for-gifs/ |title=Tenor for Mac App Introduces First Touch Bar Support for GIFs Amid Rebranding |date=April 25, 2017 |work=MacRumors |access-date=2018-02-21}}{{Cite news |url=https://tenor.com/blog/gif-touch-bar-app/ |title=Tenor Mac App Puts GIFs In The Touch Bar |date=April 25, 2017 |work=Tenor Blog |access-date=2018-02-21 |archive-date=2018-02-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180221162345/https://tenor.com/blog/gif-touch-bar-app/ |url-status=dead }} Users can scroll through GIFs and tap to copy it to the clipboard.{{Cite news |url=https://www.imore.com/tenor-mac-puts-gifs-your-macbook-pro-touch-bar |title=Tenor for Mac puts GIFs on your MacBook Pro Touch Bar |date=May 3, 2017 |work=iMore |access-date=2018-02-21}}
On September 7, 2017, Tenor announced an SDK for Unity and Apple's ARKit. It allows developers to integrate GIFs into augmented reality apps and games.{{Cite news |url=https://venturebeat.com/2017/09/07/tenor-lets-developers-put-gifs-into-augmented-reality-apps-and-games/ |title=Tenor lets developers put GIFs into augmented reality apps and games |date=September 7, 2017 |work=VentureBeat |access-date=2018-02-21}}{{Cite web |url=https://thenextweb.com/augmented-reality/2017/09/07/tenor-launches-sdk-to-help-devs-use-gifs-in-augmented-reality/ |title=Tenor launches SDK to help devs use GIFs in augmented reality |date=September 7, 2017 |website=The Next Web |access-date=2018-02-21}}{{Cite web |url=https://blog.tenor.com/bringing-the-magic-of-gifs-to-ar-with-tenor-d691a126953c |title=Bringing the Magic of GIFs to AR |date=Sep 7, 2017 |website=Tenor Blog |access-date=2018-02-21}}
Censorship
On November 6, 2017, in response to users having utilized Tenor and similar services to distribute GIFs with content that is illegal under local laws, the Indonesian Ministry of Communication and Informatics threatened to block WhatsApp. The regulator acknowledged that despite being from third-party providers, WhatsApp was wholly responsible for allowing the content to be disseminated to users, because the feature was part of their platform. The next day, Tenor was blocked in the country.{{Cite news |url=https://coconuts.co/jakarta/news/indonesian-government-warns-will-block-whatsapp-pornographic-gifs-not-blocked-immediately/ |title=Indonesian government warns it will block WhatsApp if 'pornographic gifs' are not blocked immediately |date=Nov 6, 2017 |work=Coconuts Media |access-date=2018-02-09}}{{Cite news |url=http://tekno.kompas.com/read/2017/11/07/09324217/fitur-gif-di-whatsapp-sudah-tidak-bisa-diakses-di-indonesia |title=Fitur GIF di WhatsApp Sudah Tidak Bisa Diakses di Indonesia |date=Nov 7, 2017 |work=Kompas |access-date=2018-02-09}}{{Cite news |url=https://en.antaranews.com/news/113357/ministry-blocks-porn-gif-content-on-whatsapp |title=Ministry blocks porn gif content on WhatsApp |date=November 6, 2017 |work=ANTARA |access-date=2018-02-21}}{{Cite news |url=https://coconuts.co/jakarta/news/gifs-no-longer-accessible-whatsapp-indonesia-government-blocks-tenor-due-pornographic-content/ |title=GIFs no longer accessible on Whatsapp in Indonesia after government blocks Tenor due to 'pornographic' content |date=Nov 7, 2017 |work=Coconuts Media |access-date=2018-02-09}}{{Cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-facebook-whatsapp-indonesia/after-whatsapp-threat-indonesia-steps-up-internet-obscenity-purge-idUSKBN1D615J |title=After WhatsApp threat, Indonesia steps up Internet obscenity purge |date=November 6, 2017 |work=Reuters |access-date=2018-02-09}} The threats were later dropped.{{Cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-facebook-whatsapp-indonesia-ban/indonesia-drops-threat-to-block-whatsapp-messenger-official-idUSKBN1D70KT |title=Indonesia drops threat to block WhatsApp Messenger: official |date=Nov 7, 2017 |work=Reuters |access-date=2018-02-09}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{Official Website|https://tenor.com}}
{{Google LLC}}
Category:2018 mergers and acquisitions
Category:American companies established in 2014