A Social Media Christmas

Posted By Brant David in Culture, Holiday, Lifehacks, Lifestyle

BreakingModern — I stopped sending out paper Christmas cards by way of snail mail years ago. Easily before 2010. The Internet inspired me to save time, personal energy, cut costs and reduce stress by using social media. These days I share my holiday wishes of joy and peace all through the magical, instant, inter-connected web. Additionally, I discovered digital Christmas cards for those who still want some of Ye Olde Christmas Tradition.

The advantages of a social media Christmas greeting over traditional paper greetings are significant:

• No need to pay postage.
• Digital cards are vastly less expensive than traditional cards.
• Conserves paper resources.
• No need to wander through greeting card stores amidst the mad rush of Christmas holiday shoppers.
• You can be more original.
• Seriously personalized cards.
• Instant delivery.
• Wider sharing.

Social media has evolved through the years, and with it online holiday season greeting and sharing has become even easier and more dynamic. What follows are ideas about my own approach to social media Christmas greetings. It’s my holiday wish that you find a hassle-free platform that works for you!

Instagram

Instagram is most likely the easiest way to create and share a digital Christmas card. You simply take a photo (or a short video) with your smartphone, tablet or other digital camera device, do some no-cost editing if you wish, and send it to Instagram. Then, as the name implies, your holiday image gets published instantly to whomever you want. You can also add text to personalize your images of season’s greetings by using certain apps, some of which are free.

Pinterest

As with Instagram, Pinterest lets you upload and share photos and videos straight from your computer, tablet, smartphone or other digital device. Pinterest is also quite simple to use.

I find that the best way to use Pinterest for Christmas greetings is to create a board devoted entirely and exclusively to Christmas season material.  Why send a loved one or friend a single Christmas card when you can share a whole Christmas montage?

Online Video Sites

If you want to be even more creative and dynamic with social media, you can create entire videos and share them at sites like YouTube and Vimeo. I prefer Vimeo over YouTube, as I find it looks nicer. And, for an inexpensive subscription, it’s ad-free and just not as crammed as YouTube.

In any event, if you’re not sure of the level of your video making skills, you can take an array of photographs and upload them to your computer or tablet, upload or download some Christmas music and then simply allow the Magisto app to create an enchanting video for you.

If you want to get the word out to friends and loved ones that you’ve posted some digital Christmas cheer you can use Twitter or Facebook to tell them about it.

Blue Mountain E-Cards

For those who want to send out more of a traditional Christmas greeting, I like Blue Mountain for digital e-cards. The company offers some of the highest quality images and texts. There are also stationery and postcard options. Some of the digital cards are animated and interactive, and some of them even talk (you write the script and choose from a selection of voices). You’re able to add your own personalized text with your choice of font and even attach a gift card. A basic subscription is a mere $3.99 per month and you can e-mail an unlimited number of cards.

So, why stress out over buying, signing and mailing out Christmas cards when we live in the age of the Internet? Enjoy yourself, get creative, get personal and save money with social media holiday greetings.

For BMod, I’m Brant David.

Feature Image: By Loopstation (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Image Credit: Feature Image: Thomas Wolf via Wikimedia Commons