e-cards

 Overview
With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, just about every pharmacy, grocery store and gas station now has a variety of cards and chocolates on display. But why fall to the commercial trappings of consumer based holidays when you can get something online for free? This seems to be the general mentality behind “e-cards”. Defined by PC magazine as “a digital greeting card or postcard created on the web and sent to someone via email”, e-cards allow different backgrounds, images and music to be used. Some even integrate animation. Mostly paid for by banner ads that run along the majority of e-card websites, the taglines read something along the line of “make someone’s day special with an E Card from [insert company name] now!” Unavoidably alluring, right? While the most popular online greeting card website is currently bluemountain.com, even Hallmark has a large segment of their website devoted to electronic cards. Within these databases one can create a blank card from scratch or choose a fully animated, pre-made message for any holiday or birthday. Once such a card is completed, it is sent directly to the email of the intended recipient(s). In the spirit of secret valentines and so forth, these can also be sent anonymously through the site’s server. All in all, what they may lack in meaningful emotional expression, e-cards make up for with colorful immediacy and low cost and energy input. [ele]

**History**
**Data / Research** **[|e-card definition]** **[|bluemountain]**

**Opinion**
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**Future Trends?**
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