Twitter Tests New GIF-Making Tools During VMAs With Tweets from Taylor Swift, Big Sean

GIF-making on Twitter may soon get a lot easier. The site tested new camera tools, including GIFs, stickers and doodling, for some Twitter users in attendance at MTV’s Video Music Awards Sunday night -- one of whom was the star of the night.

The new features, spotted by "Today" show social media manager Anthony Quintano, allow Twitter users to create GIFs -- small moving images -- and overlay them with virtual stickers and texts. Taylor Swift, who won awards for best video of the year and best collaboration for “Bad Blood” and best female video for “Blank Space,” used the tools prior to and throughout the award show to create GIFs with her squad of celebrity girlfriends:

Swift, who was evidently one of the beta testers in Twitter’s new features, received praise from Twitter’s head of entertainment talent, Lara Cohen. The Twitter employee had retweeted one of Swift’s tweets that included a GIF of her friends shortly before the awards show began.

As noted by Twitter's Cohen, Big Sean and Pharrell also had access to the tool Sunday night.

Posting GIFs on Twitter previously has been possible through third-party sources and apps. In June 2014, Twitter announced GIF support, and later that month, partnered with GIF search engine Giphy to allow posting directly from Giphy or by using a link, Mashable reported. Earlier this month, Giphy released Giphy cam, an app that allows users to create GIFs and add moving overlays.

This type of moving, user-generated content has been embraced by other social networks. For example, earlier this month, popular disappearing photo- and video-messaging app Snapchat updated to allow users to expand emoji on top of images. In May, Facebook added Snapchat-like tools (filters, text and stickers) to its mobile app.

Twitter’s update follows several product changes it has made over the last several months to improve the user experience. The 8-year-old company has been scrutinized repeatedly by Wall Street investors for its staggering user growth numbers. But “beautiful products” are one way Twitter’s interim CEO, Jack Dorsey, has promised to better the company.

“The fundamentals and the primitives that the company is working on right now are really strong and beautiful, and I can't wait for the rest of the world to see it,” Dorsey told CNBC in an interview in June. The interview, focusing on the company’s transitions, followed the announcement of Dick Costolo stepping down as CEO.

Some investors have been wooed. SunTrust analyst Robert Peck upgraded the stock to a buy in a new note, reported by Business Insider. Peck cited users, monetization, CEO and board changes as “catalysts” to improving the company. The analyst wrote, “new products and deals could reignite monthly user and engagement growth.”

Since Costolo’s announcement, Twitter has changed the homepage to make it easier to view and engage with public tweets. In August, Twitter and the National Football League renewed their partnership for in-game highlights, such as GIFs and video clips, partnered with ads on the site. Twitter also secured a deal with Google that allows tweets to appear in Google search results.

Twitter also reportedly is working on a new initiative called “Project Lightning” that will improve tweet discovery during live events, such as the VMAs.

Twitter’s new photo-editing tools are not yet available to all users but were available to only a handful of partners for the VMAs on Sunday.