Facebook Inc. acquired Giphy, a library of video clips and animated images known as GIFs that can be attached to messages to express emotion, adding features that could encourage users to communicate through its apps.

Giphy will join the Instagram group within Facebook, according to a blog post on Friday, and the social-media giant has extended offers to more than 100 Giphy employees, a spokesperson said. The acquisition price was about $400 million, according to people familiar with the matter. Axios earlier reported the deal and its price. Facebook didn’t disclose terms.

Facebook already offers Giphy’s library of clips in its messaging products and said owning the service outright will make it “easier for people to find the perfect GIFs and stickers” in Stories and direct messages. About 50 percent of Giphy’s traffic already comes from the Facebook family of apps, and half of that from Instagram alone, the company said. The talks started after money-losing Giphy reached out to Facebook a few months ago in hopes of landing an investment, then shifted to talking about an acquisition instead, according to a person familiar with the conversations, who asked not to be identified discussing private negotiations.

Giphy provides GIF search functions for other apps, like Twitter and TikTok, and it will keep up those integrations — potentially giving Facebook insight into activity on competitors’ platforms.