A Special Valentine Blog - It is Good Netiquette to Send an Ecard!

There is considerable discussion which always grows as each holiday comes along. The question arises: "Should I send an ecard?" Most people would prefer something tangible but if this is impossible or inconvenient, an ecard is perfectly fine, most of the time. I discuss this more in other blog posts and my book (see below).So, if you are running late with sending a card, it is far better to provide an ecard than none at all.

The excellent post below gives a bit more elaboration and information.

Happy Valentin's Day!

Valentine's Day dilemma: OK to e-mail a card?

Michael Antonoff, Special for USA TODAY 10:31 a.m. EST February 13, 2014

Valentine's Day has always been about risky choices such as chocolates or flowers and whether to pop the question or not, but now the holiday has come down to whether it's VC (Valentine Correct) to send an e-card instead of a greeting card.

Traditional Valentine's Day cards won't be going away anytime soon. "Even my 18-year-old daughter said if she only got a text rather than a card from her boyfriend, she'd be unhappy," says Kathy Krassner, director of communications for the Greeting Card Association in Washington, D.C.

That's one reason Krassner anticipates sales of Valentine's Day cards will "remain relatively stable over last year's number of 145 million purchased."

Nevertheless, compared with sales of other gifts associated with Valentine's Day, greeting cards will exhibit the least amount of growth in 2014, according to IBISWorld. The research firm expects just 0.9% growth in the category on an annual basis compared with 2.1% for clothing and lingerie, 2.5% for candy, 3.9% for flowers, 4.1% for dining out, 4.2% for jewelry and 5.1% for a romantic getaway.

Additionally, just weeks before Valentine's Day, the cost of a first-class stamp was raised to 49 cents. The increase could not have come at a worse time for the greeting card industry because, according to the Greeting Card Association, roughly 60% of greeting cards are sent using the United States Postal Service. And with Valentine's Day being the second largest holiday (after Christmas) for purchasing cards, IBISWorld industry analyst Brandon Ruiz says that consumers will be "less likely to purchase greetings cards and more likely to purchase e-cards, which are more affordable."

Thousands of electronic valentines, many incorporating animation and music, can be personalized and e-mailed from a variety of websites. E-card prices range from free to $12 to $15 as part of an annual subscription.

Krassner says she's not sure how the postal hike will impact Valentine's Day sales, since many of those cards are handed over in person. One thing she is certain about is that a real card has more of an impact.
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In addition to this blog, I maintain a radio show on BlogtalkRadio  and an online newsletter via paper.li.I have established Netiquette discussion groups with Linkedin and  Yahoo.  I am also a member of the International Business Etiquette and Protocol Group and Minding Manners among others. I regularly consult for the Gerson Lehrman Group, a worldwide network of subject matter experts and I have been contributing to the blogs Everything Email and emailmonday . My work has appeared in numerous publications and I have presented to groups such as The Breakfast Club of NJ and  PSG of Mercer County, NJ. 

I am the president of Tabula Rosa Systems, a “best of breed” reseller of products for communications, email, network management software, security products and professional services.  Also, I am the president of Netiquette IQ. We are currently developing an email IQ rating system, Netiquette IQ, which promotes the fundamentals outlined in my book.

Over the past twenty-five years, I have enjoyed a dynamic and successful career and have attained an extensive background in IT and electronic communications by selling and marketing within the information technology marketplace.