Disclosed are a mobile terminal and a method for controlling the same. A mobile terminal includes a wireless communication unit mounted in a main body to transmit/receive a message, a display unit for displaying the transmitted/received message on a message-based screen, and a controller for, if an element representing an predefined content is detected from the displayed message, creating a moving image which is associated to the predefined content, and providing the created moving image together with the message, wherein the moving image is created based on an image shared on the message-based screen.