Facebook and other social media sites have changed the way many of us communicate with friends and family, especially those who live far away. How will you send your holiday greetings be they Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah or simply Happy New Year?

Email’s move from a business tool to a personal one has created a revolution in how we communicate that has already been felt by the U.S. Postal Service and the stationery industry.

In an instant we can send our greetings to our next-door neighbor or to our cousin in Australia. But email feels like business communication still; it brings a formality no matter how many emoticons people add. We are trained to wince at email backgrounds or have them stripped by our mail servers.

Including too many links or attachments can mean that the messages don’t reach our inboxes and if they do, they will be sharing an inbox with spam, work email and  newsletters. Of course, email can be a great way to communicate both on a one-on-one basis and with a group of friends, so many of us will be receiving and sending our annual holiday letters via email.

Instant messages and texts will never replace a holiday card; they are more like a quick phone call or wave on the street. Teens who have grown up with texting may feel differently, but they are not the usual senders of cards relying instead on having their name signed on their parents’ messages.

Have Facebook, Twitter or Google+ become your favorite way to keep in touch? Does it mean that this is where we will go in the future to send our best wishes? I’ve found that Facebook messaging is a useful way to engage directly with my loved ones. Think of how Facebook has changed the way we keep up with each other’s birthdays. I appreciate the ability to send birthday wishes to my friends and even acquaintances. Does that mean we send fewer birthday cards?

E-cards seem to be hybrid thing. They are a ‘green’ choice for sure—no paper waste or transportation contributing to greenhouse gases. Some of us love receiving e-cards, or appreciate being able to send something last minute, but I am sure that others feel that they leave something lacking.