Before I get started on the contest, I wanted to take a quick moment to mention that as of yesterday, 
However, in an awesome show of solidarity, a whole bunch of #HiveTwitter accounts changed their display names to, "They Call Me" with their user name. It's been a wicked cool thing to see evolve, and it's also a sobering reminder that unlike here on the blockchain, your Web 2.0 social media accounts & their contents are subject to the whim of big corporations. Personally, I think it's all the more reason to continue using those platforms to spread the word of this amazing place where you own your social media and earn crypto to boot!
Speaking of, now on with the contest!
In the almost three years (September 22nd is my official blogiversary) I've been on the blockchain, I've developed a bit of a reputation. No, no - not that kind of rep... well, not exactly anyway, but there was that one time... although there's no proof... at least, I think I destroyed all the pho... wait, what was I saying?
Oh yes, I've gotten to be fairly well known for my gif creations. Not in the same way talented folks like 
It's really much simpler than you'd think, which I'll explain later in this post. First, here are the specifics of the contest -
@hiveonboard (details in THIS POST) either in the original tweet, or as a reply to it. Who knows, someone might see your gif and be inspired to join, and you can give the current top two (
@soyunasantacruz and 
@jeanlucsr are tied for first place, and 
@femcy-willy is close behind) a run for their money!That's it!
Here are a couple of example tweets - one with a gif I found just from searching Twitter's gif library (yes, I know I said "gif creation" contest, but the main idea is to share a gif that represents a reason to join Hive, so I'm allowing some wiggle room 😊 ) -
https://twitter.com/TraciYorkWriter/status/1306713389499064321
- TraciYorkWriter
And one I created by adding a logo to a gif I found on Giphy -
https://twitter.com/HiveBlogShare/status/1306718136658464768
- HiveBlogShare
As I said on Twitter, I originally had a different prize pool to offer but since Dan was my sponsor and as I said, is currently AFK, I'm not able to offer quite as much as I'd hoped. However, the main idea of this was to create some awesome gifs to go along with Stella's Join Hive initiative that's going on for the month of September (again, check out THIS POST for info), while also answering the call for a quick gif creation tutorial. Also, according to the Twitter poll I did yesterday, most folks feel that for this contest , "the fun is the prize."
So, after this post pays out in a week, I'll do a drawing from all of the valid entries, and 10 people will each receive a Hive Tip from me on Twitter, thanks to that awesomesauce @HiveTips browser add-on from the folks at 
Oh, and all of my favorite created gif entries will also be uploaded to both the Official Hive Gif Libraries - HiveGifs on Tenor and HiveGifs on Giphy!
For me, the simplest way to create a gif is to find one I like, then use the Create function on Giphy (you do need to sign up for an account to use this function, but it only requires an email & password to do so). The creator itself is pretty self explanatory, but if you have any questions, please feel free to shout out. Here's a screenshot, to give you an idea of how it works...
If you want to add a Hive logo, or any other sort of overlay to the gif, my go to website is ezgif. It also has lots of features for adding text, cropping, optimizing, and other cool things, but for simplicity's sake, here's another screenshot showing where to click to add a logo/overlay...
And here are a few of the logos I use in the gifs, all with transparent backgrounds...
I have a bunch in various sizes and transparencies, but those should be a good starter set for now.
If there's interest, I might do a more in-depth tutorial on customizing gifs in the future, but for the purposes of this contest, those two options should be enough. Again, please feel free to shout out with any questions, and...
My posts may occasionally contain affiliate links. If you click through,
I might get a wicked small commission, with no extra cost to you.
Blog graphics created on Canva
My photographs are taken with my trusty Nikon,
sometimes utilizing my handy dandy tripod.
All words and images are mine (unless otherwise indicated),
and can sometimes also be found on my various social media sites.
Speaking of witch which...
