On a selection of videos, the platform is testing out a new way of letting users share content. The new feature lets users create animated GIFs and share them the same way they would share full videos -- through a hyperlink or embedded into a website.

More popular than ever on social networks and blogs, animated GIFs have become nothing short of an essential tool for online expression, whether they're used to convey an emotion, a reaction or a joke.

A new tool quietly added by YouTube allows viewers to select an excerpt of up to six seconds from a video to turn it into an animated GIF, which can then be shared through a direct download link or embedded on any website through code.

For the time being, the feature is available only on a limited selection of videos, including all of the ones published by PBS Idea Channel. Users simply select the Share menu under the title and then click GIF.

Besides offering a new way to enjoy YouTube content, the new feature, if extended to the rest of the platform, could allow YouTube to become an alternative to Vine, the Twitter-owned social network based on the sharing of short video sequences.