I'll look forward to reading that article and blissing out on communication codes and such. I think GIFs are a way of communicating through visual metaphors. Did you ever watch Star Trek: The Next Generation? There was an episode where they encountered a race that communicated entirely through metaphor. Saying something such as, "like Darmok and Jalad at Tenegra," pre-populates in the minds of people acquainted with the metaphor all sorts of things -- the situation, tensions, actions taken, outcomes achieved, historical judgments, etc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darmok

This is what GIFs remind me of, because it's a shared vocabulary within the culture of a fandom. Like, if a person hasn't ever seen Thor and doesn't know about the character of Loki and how Tom Hiddleston has embraced it, then the GIF of him hanging out the window of that limo means very little. And if you don't read Hyperbole and a Half, then "GIF all the things!" doesn't carry the same weight. But I'm overanalyzing now, and that's the sort of geek I am.