How to Make an Animated Avatar on Twitter
November 30th, 2008 | 
Author: NOTE: For awhile Twitter said they weren’t allowing this kind of avatar but just this week (July 17, 2010), I had someone tell me they were able to do it too – just make sure the file is small enough – and his worked! So try it out…
Some people love ‘em, some people hate ‘em. I loved it when I saw it, so I did it. Some people unfollow when you do it. I’m talking about animating your avatar on Twitter!
If you head over to look at my avatar here: http://www.Twitter.com/TiffanyDow you will see my animated avatar. I saw another girl whose pic was animated and DM’d her to ask how she did it and she told me, so I’ll pass it along to you:
Step 1: Create a short video clip – under 8 seconds. Mine was 3 seconds. All I’m doing is waving and mouthing “Hi!” I used my handy dandy Flip Mino. I plugged it in and imported it to Camtasia.
Step 2: Produce the video as a GIF file. I chose 64 colors. I played around with this – too many colors made the file too big. Too few and was just a bunch of dots hopping around the screen. Set it to custom size 150×112. On file size, make sure both options are checked – Disable callout fade…and use instant zoom-n-pan. Both options help reduce file size. Name it and finish it.
Step 3: Log into Twitter and go to Settings – Picture. Click browse and find the GIF file on your computer. When I tried doing it through FireFox, it kept saying Twitter is over capacity. But I then tried through AOL and it worked instantly!
Now enjoy your animated Twitter avatar. I’m animated on other people’s profiles, too – in my thumbnail. This could attract more followers who think it’s neat or repel people who hate the movement.
Tiff 
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Your avatar looks great! Glad I could help.
I love it!
Your twitter background too! That’s your next post. How to get a background like yours made. Post post post!
cool post Tiff!
I think your animated avatar is cool, can’t imagine why it would put some people off, it catches the eye immediatly…
cheers,
@MattGarrett
Hey Tiff,
Love the animated avatar –
the way you did it, it was
hardly noticeable at first
but then it sort of catches
your eye when you start
to wave.
I don’t know what would
happen if a lot of people
started using it – I think
that would drive me crazy,
but once in a while it’s good.
Thanks for the post,
Carolyn Carey
Global Success Creators
Is there any special way of saving the animated GIF? I’ve tried it and haven’t had any success. When I put the GIF on a website, it will be animated. But, when I upload it to Twitter, Twitter just shows the first frame and no animation occurs.
I’ve been animated since joining but now that it’s getting crowded with anime I’m going to start a new trend: “retro”. Nobody move. Seriously, I like the smoothness of your motion.
That is the coolest ever! I was taken by that, gave you a good minute and even waved back at you! Lifes’ little pleasures! Or is it that I amuse easily?
You got my attention. Thanks for the “How to”!
It caught my eye. I’m thinking about doing it. Thanks for the “how to”.
Hi Tiffany,
Thanks for sharing how to create the animated avatar. I think it adds personality, but like an earlier post said, if everyone does it, you could get dizzy.
I’ll check it out and see if I can come up with something unique.
Love your site,
Theresa
Hi Tiffany,
Animated avatars certainly attract attention. I have seen a few before and wondered how it was done.
Thanks for sharing this. I am now following you.
Cheers
Ken
Thanks for sharing this info. This is the reason I followed you on Twitter – because your picture stood out from the rest.
That little pic is so cute!
Don’t have AOL, how else to post up to Twitter. Also, have same prob. as previous post – shows first frame, no animation?
Is it a Mac thing?
Hi Tiff! Loved your avatar so followed your directions and created one for myself. Unfortunately, when I try to upload my gif to Twitter, I get a message that Twitter doesn’t support animated gifs.
Did I do something wrong or has Twitter changed their policy since you added yours?
Oh they sure did Sue, sorry
I’ll add a notification to the blog post. They grandfathered those of us who had it – so I’m very lucky about that. I think the files were too big for them.
Thanks for the “how to” Tiffany. I’ll create one and use it everywhere (except Twitter).
The ban on animated avatars has been lifted.
Animated backgrounds are still verboten. 
Really? I need to find out more about this – awesome!
Thanks for the info.
Please check my twitter account http://twitter.com/wwwabidin which i have created after twitter has blocked animated background.
do you mean the aol browser or the aol isp access?
http://twittertips.asktomogden.com/can-i-upload-an-animated-gif-avatar-to-my-twitter-profile/
does not seem to work anymore. sorry.
Its really nice, i am seeing here different commands also thanks for sharing. I have just got interested in blogging and hopefully i am able to do so
Follow me on Twitter
I made an animated .gif file through photoshop but when I uploaded it as my default twitter said, “oops image cannot me animated”. Drat. How do I get around that?
how to upload it on AOL ?
Animated Twitter avatar:
As we know the animated gifs are not possible any more. But the animated png is working fine on twitter. I just uploaded the files for my avatar and my background.
Added this one yesterday. They still take them but it’s luck of the draw
http://a3.twimg.com/profile_images/979668667/anime_icon_bigger.gif
cool info
Tiffany. For info: even now i can upload an avatar to my profile (on twitter)?? Now it’s work?
You can create animated avatar using Video Avatar.Also convert video to gif. It’s really cool programm!
I tried uploading mine, but the picture didn’t move.
The file is an animated gif, but it doesn’t seem to work
Your’s is awesome though
i try to create some animate in .gif extention
still didn’t move…
Did not work.
itz not working my file z abt 12 kb and in .gif format.vn i apload its not working….help me out plz.!!!
Great tutorial.. Williams try it now…. XD