Holiday Gift Guide: Animoto Giveaway – Ends 11/08 – Worldwide

Now that we’re in the thick of the holiday season, many families will begin planning their Christmas photos and newsletters. Would you like a quick way of creating a festive photo slideshow that can be shared easily via email, Facebook, YouTube or Twitter? One lucky Contest Corner reader will win a one year subscription to Animoto Plus, so read on!

Animoto is an web-based video creation service that allows you to create slideshows via their website. They provide animated templates, music, and allow you to upload photos from your computer or connect directly to your Facebook photo albums. Once the video is created, you can either share it online via social media or email, or download it directly to your computer. I received a promotional Animoto Pro account to check out, and I made a few test slideshows. The interface was easy to use and it made a pretty nice video. If you want to enjoy the full video and song that you choose, you need to make sure that you select enough photos to fill up the time – they estimate that you need around 24-40 images per minute, depending on how fast or slow the song you select is. If there’s not enough photos, the video will cut off early. Here’s a short test video that I made, just to give you an example of what their slideshows look like:

Pretty cute! I pulled these pictures from my Facebook account – one of them didn’t load all the way, I’m not quite sure why. I tried to re-import, but it kept loading the same way; I’m not sure what’s up with that.

Overall, I think this might be enjoyed by those who want to create slideshows of family moments (For example, photos of their children from the last year), and share them easily with their network. There are some cute holiday templates available that you can use to create custom virtual greetings, and it also provides space to write a message that is displayed in the video. This would be a cute way to share photos with loved ones in other states or countries – I’m sure grandparents would enjoy getting a seasonal greeting filled with photos of their kids and grandkids! This is a fairly specialized service, but for those who want a way of quickly creating a video slideshow that doesn’t require using special software, it could be a fun tool.

One lucky Contest Corner reader will win a one year subscription to Animoto Plus! Here’s how to enter:

1. For your first entry, click here to check out the different video styles Animoto offers, then come back here and leave a comment on this post telling me which one you like the best! This step is required to qualify for the drawing.

Want extra entries? Do any of the following, and leave a separate comment for each one:

2. Write a post on your blog linking to this giveaway and Animoto. Then come back here and leave me the link!
3. Write about this on Twitter, then come back and leave me the link to your tweet! One Twitter entry per person. You can use the button at the bottom of this post to tweet with one click!
4. Subscribe to my blog updates by clicking here. Then come back and leave me the email you subscribed with!
5. Become a follower of my blog by clicking the “Follow” button in my sidebar! Then come back here and let me know in a separate comment!
6. Post Contest Corner’s button on your website – just copy and paste the following code, and let me know where you put it:

7. Add the Holiday Gift Guide 2011 badge to your website – just copy and paste the following code, and let me know where you put it: