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Share Awesome Birthday Ideas

November 8th, 2011

As we become more and more of a digital generation, I wonder how we will integrate daily aspects of our lives into the “www” world. Like, how can we celebrate birthdays in a 100% online fashion? What is exciting, about this idea of a virtual birthday, are the innovative options its users can offer. Online users possess a strong sense of community and authenticity. However, as unorthodox as this idea may sound, options are already available to the bold user.

For the users who feel passionate about online gaming, they can organize to meet and play against each other at virtual worlds. For instance, DDO’s celebrated its 5th birthday with its users in a purely online manner this past February. Twitter uploaded a website where the company featured a Youtube video featuring 16 famous people—amongst them UFC’s president, Dana White. If you want to read more on how these media companies celebrated their birthdays online, check out http://www.cssreflex.com/2011/06/10-popular-website-birthdays.html/. Other sites recommend booking a computer lab or an online forum where everyone invited can meet and contribute by competing in games or creating websites to mark the occasion.

Another area that I have not addressed yet is the birthday gifts. In the web, we have the option of online gifts—but, they may be costly and require you to provide credit information. However, my favourite option available is Mashup Arts . These guys embody the online ethos of our generation, since they use UGC (user generated content), and their app. operates on Facebook.  Like the options provided above, Mashup Arts removes the cost pressure, and focuses on the birthday boy/girl. The app. is all about making personalized birthday cards for the person. If you are on Facebook, you may download the app. for free. A feature of the app., named the Automashup, creates a 3 page photo ecard with Youtube video(s), and a personalized title. If you don’t like the card, you click “remix”, and the app. instantly provides you with new content. Plus, as a way to promoting community spirit, many users can participate in the making of one card.

After reviewing this, I’m excited to see how social media may extend online celebrations.

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Posted in Birthday Cards, Mashup Arts, Mashups, You Tube

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Celebrate Long Distance Birthdays

October 25th, 2011

I have a niece who turns 15 next week. She called me yesterday, all the way from Mexico, to invite me to her party. I felt heartbroken to say ‘no’, because it’s a big deal. In our culture, when a girl turns 15, her parents introduce her to society in a huge, formal party known as “Fiesta de Quinceañera”. At the party, family and friends enjoy dinner to live music. The party’s highlight occurs when the birthday girl dances with her dad and her 15 “chambelanes” –   a fancy title for the guy friends of the girl. Since I won’t be in Mexico to mark the occasion, I still want to let her know that she’s on my mind.

After a week, I logged-in to Facebook to post “Happy Birthday Martha!” on her wall. Yet, staring at the sea of “happy bday”s, I knew she wouldn’t make it to my post. It’s just not personal enough. So, I did a quick search for photo or video cards. I found a birthday card app. called Mashup Arts . I downloaded it for free on FB and put it to use.

The app. created a slideshow that ranged from baby photos of my cousin to my favourite photo of both of us.  I flipped to the next page of the card; the app.’s template offered me the option to keep adding photos or post a Youtube video. I kept the video the app. suggested—it featured the goofiest, singing coneheads. Before I clicked “send”, I uploaded a photo of myself and used Picnik to add a birthday hat and confetti – as if I was at her party. I sent the card to her FB wall, and took off to work.

I still wish to be at Mexico to celebrate my niece’s birthday. But, I felt pretty good about the app. The card was personal; it used photos of ourselves, and allowed me to upload Youtube videos. The fact that the app. was free stands as a bonus. Plus, I know that my niece will look at it because the app. runs on Facebook. I can’t wait to call her tomorrow to wish Martha a “FELIZ Quinceañera!”

Click here to view my card:

(http://www.mashuparts.com/ecard/f245d773/happy-birthday-martha)


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Posted in Birthday Cards, Ecards, Facebook, Mashup Arts, Mashups

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10 Easy Tips to Use Birthday Mashup Cards Creatively

October 19th, 2011

It is time to try new things! Welcome to Birthday Mashup Cards, an application that challenges the notions of custom e-cards as it sets free your imagination. Birthday Mashup Cards enables you to place  pictures, audio and video to create the most personalized e-card you can imagine. Although this new application is fully guided by your imagination, below are some tips that will help make your e-card, the most personal and unique gift your friend will ever receive!

TIP 1: Try the automashup: If you are new to this application we recommend that as a new user, work with the different templates we offer.

TIP 2: Try the community templates and remix the shared cards. See what other Facebook users are doing.  remember that an image is worth a thousand words. Think about how you want to approach your viewer. If you are unsure of what tone to choose for your e-card make yourself this question: Do I want my e-card to be serious? Humorous?

TIP 3: Select the font to match your page: Remember that the font type is as important as the image or template you choose. Taking this into consideration, Birthday Mashup Cards has installed distinct fonts that will undoubtedly add to your e-card. A quick note on it, is to remember that cursive fonts tend to reflect a much serious, elegant approach, while the other fonts are more playful and adventurous.

TIP 4: Add Multiple Pages. With Birthday Mashups Cards, you can add multiple pages to your e-card. Each page can be personalized differently, which in turn adds to the excitement of receiving one.

TIP 5: Add Images: Add images of you and your friend in the e-card. This will add an extra touch to the gift, as your friend will know that you took your time to make him/her the e-card. Also feel free to add other images (such as fireworks, flowers, etc) as it makes the e-card even more dynamic.

TIP 6: Use Picnik: Once you have your image use Picknik to edit it. Make your picture perfect by adding as many filters as you need. If you are unsure of where to begin try boosting the color, cropping the image, removing red eye, or maybe even giving it a vintage look.

TIP 7: Use Audio: Audio adds to the mood of any e-card. Don’t be afraid of testing. Remember that any good song can make any e-card go from good to spectacular!

Tip 8: Use Video: Who doesn’t love a good video? Choose from a variety of videos we have, or better yet, feel free to be creative. A good idea would be making a video of yourself singing/congratulating your friend to later add it to the e-card.

TIP 9: PUNK your e-card: Give the final touches to your e-card by using the Punk’d feature. Let your friend have a laugh!

TIP 10: SHARE. Send your e-card and share the content you used! Remember that the application is user generated, and the more we add, the more varieties and ideas we will have. However, the defaults are all private, and feel free to keep those settings.

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Posted in Birthday Cards, Ecards, Facebook, Mashup Arts, Mashups

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Video Mashup Cards for the Million Facebook Users Having a Birthday Today

March 16th, 2010

Mashup Arts Launches its Birthday Application on the Corner of Facebook and YouTube.

Birthday Cards is a top 5 application on Facebook, and now with the new advanced features of Facebook Connect, Facebook users can quickly create Birthday Mashup Cards that mix in videos, music and funny picture effects for their friends.

The new application is called “Birthday Mashup Cards” and its themes are jokes, personal touches and shared creativity. It can be seen at http://apps.facebook.com/BdayMashup

“We want users to be able to browse through shared community cards to find something they like, and then mix in free Internet content from YouTube, Flickr, or even their own Facebook photos directly from the application” said Shaun MacDonald, CEO of Mashup Arts.  The best part of the application is that people can remix the card their way, making it more personal and funny.

Many young people send virtual gifts and simple greetings when they see that it is a friend’s birthday using birthday calendar. Now with Mashup Cards they can up the ante … and send remixes with videos directly to a friend’s wall, or privately via email.

Finding something funny in different languages can be impossible, so we designed the application to allow people to search a world of images and videos directly from Facebook,  Flickr and YouTube, while mixing in titles and messages in their language of choice.

They can use the integrated Picnik module to add funny effects to photos, bubbles, and clip art.   Picnik is a popular application with the Facebook crowd, so much so that the company was just acquired by Google.  A Toronto fashion design student, Priya Mistry said “I really liked the way the Birthday application allowed me to import and modify my Facebook pictures, and add YouTube videos right into my Card.”

The core application is always free with advertising on the site, and the Company intends to add premium print and gifting features in 2010.

About Mashup Arts www.MashupArts.com

Mashup Arts is the “Mashup Card Company.” Our new Birthday application was built for Facebook users who want to share video and photo Mashup Cards by mixing their personal content with free Internet content. We help people celebrate their friend’s birthdays by creating unique mixes of photos, videos, text and music with built-in links to entertaining content at YouTube, Picasa, Flickr and Facebook. The flexibility and search options are well suited for our diverse cultures, and the community mashups are a great source of ideas. The creativity is shared, so people can remix and reuse Mashup Cards to delight their friends. The model is user-generated creative content mashups on top of our platform – with its technology mashups.

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Posted in Birthday Cards, Ecards, Facebook, Mashup Arts, Mashups, Video Ecard, You Tube

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Happy 22nd Birthday Rihanna – The Caribbean Queen Turns 22 Tomorrow

February 19th, 2010

Rihanna is not only the biggest music star ever to come out of Barbados, but in wishing her a fantastic 22nd birthday, I would also like to say thanks to her for her community work. Unlike many stars that can’t wait to lose their home towns, Rihanna has been helping her people through her sponsorship with the Barbados Tourism Agency and other charitable works through her Believe Foundation.

http://www.mashuparts.com/ecard/cb04a2b5/Happy-22nd-Birthday-Rihanna

We hear that some of your friends call you RiRi. I’m not sure if that is true, but it sounds and looks like a girl that has curves and a button on top.  I hope that you like the Birthday Mashup Card that I made for you at Mashup Arts.

I suspect that tomorrow, the question “Who is Going to Run this Town Tonight” will be a fait accompli. I want to wish you all the best, and hope that you get to spend your day with “good people” who care and take care of you.

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Posted in Birthday Cards, Ecards, Mashup Arts, Mashups, Video Ecard

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