Send Video Greeting Cards with YouTube’s Holiday Cards

Tired of the run of the mill e-cards that seem to be flying around every festive season? Do you want to wrap your wish in a different package this year? Then head over to YouTube to send a video greeting card.

For the second year in a row YouTube is offering a greetings channel for sending personalized video cards. If you weren’t among the millions who tried it last year, here’s another chance. With 2008 about to take its curtain call, YouTube is back with its ‘Holiday Video Cards’. The only difference seems to be that you have more themes and videos to choose from.

• To turn a video into a season ending greeting, sign-up at YouTube.
• Pick out the video of choice from the ones featured courtesy the YouTube community.
• Pick a theme. Themes are like e-card backgrounds. There seem to be only seven themes now.
• Compose your personal message (upto 230 characters only) and add the addresses of the recipients (maximum 25 at one time). Now, click ‘Send’ to spread the cheer.
• If you want to send one of your own, just record one with your webcam. The AudioSwap feature is enabled for your personally created videos. It lets you add audio/musical tracks from the YouTube AudioSwap catalog. The catalog has now included many holiday themed tracks.
• Though the featured videos seem to be more geared for the holiday season, you can send any video on YouTube as a video greeting. Every video has been given a ‘send as a greeting card’ link.

In conclusion, it’s a nice way to send video greetings within YouTube itself. I only wish YouTube had included a “date to send” option to allow us to time our wishes better. Oh yes, choose a nice user name to log-in because it’s what goes into the card.

Did you try YouTube’s holiday greetings last year or this year? What do you think about this seasonal feature?