While we’re working extra hard to finish strong before the year is out, rushing to get all our holiday needs accommodated for Thanksgiving and Christmas; sometimes it can be a little hard to remember what this holiday is all about. Well just a quick reminder; Thanksgiving is about giving thanks! And in our fast paced lifestyles we can still do a few things to easily give thanks and show our appreciation of others this time of year.
Not only is giving thanks the right thing to do, you also build your own credibility when you edify others. Gratitude is a characteristic successful people look for. And what is the natural result when you give to someone without want? Yes, the universe usually returns the favor. Giving and receiving are all part of the same process.
But, make sure you don’t get caught up in giving to receive. Give to give.
What better way to show your true character and build a connection than an honest message from the heart. Also, when you complement them in front of their friends and fans, you make them look good and it may inspire them to respond back or just pay it forward. So here are a few easy ways to give thanks in Social Media to the people who have helped you along your journey:
1. Drop Them a Message
A quick and easy way to show your friends, family, and clients how thankful you are to have them in your life is to send them a private message on Facebook, it take just less than three clicks on your part and no more than five minutes to write. And be genuine! Don’t copy and paste the same message from one person to another and switch out the names; people can tell when you’re faking it!
2. Tag Them in an Update
The more public route of course is to use the @tagging feature. It will mean more to them because they’ll be put on a pedestal in front of all your friends and in front of all of their friends on their own wall. Making things public will show them just how much they mean to you.
3. A Short Video Message
If you’ve got a webcam, a camera, or even a phone that can send video you can add a little bit of flair to your expression of appreciation. For the webcam go to the persons wall, click on the little video camera icon under the “write something…” box, record your thank you video, type in a nice message, and click on share. Not only will the person appreciate you going out of your way to go to their page and leave them a message, all of their friends will see it too and it’ll show them how genuinely thankful for them you are.
If you are not feeling bold enough to do a public video message, you can also send people a private video message, which is an extremely effective way to make a great first impression on someone.
4. Write Them a Note
Leaving a thank you note on Facebook is far more public and can read far more people than the message; it allows you to tag people who you wrote about and even gives you the option to attach pictures. Leaving a thank you this way can shows multiple people how much you care. Although less effective, if you have a big network, you can do this in exchange of leaving dozens of personal video or message for each person you are thankful for.
5. @Reply’s
Just like you do when you carry on a conversation or promote your favorite fans on Follow Friday, today you can leave an @reply giving thanks to specific followers and tag it with #IamThankfulFor or #ThanksGiving. Try leaving them for only one person per ‘thank you’ tweet, it’ll mean so much more!
6. Send Them a Picture
TwitPic.com allows you to send picture updates to your followers, usually from your cell phone (but you can also upload pics from your computer). Get a cool picture of you helping create the Thanksgiving feast, helping serve at the local Thanksgiving community feast (most towns have free ones you can help with at the local food shelter), or simply a picture of you chowing down on a turkey leg. Leave a short note to explain the picture and you’re done.
7. Leave a Voice Message
Trottr lets you record a voice message for your followers, so if you’re a little camera-shy and would prefer talking on the phone you can use Trottr to blow them away with your Twitter smarts. You can include a customized tweet with your recording through Trottr, click on “Share” and you’re done!
8. Send a BubbleTweet
The final cool way to show how thankful you are is to use BubbleTweet to leave a video tweet (in a bubble of course). Leave a short message explaining what or who you are thankful for this year and ask your followers to do the same. Just like on Facebook you can leave your video either through a webcam or by prerecording it on a camera and uploading it. Just go to their site, put in your Twitter username, select the webcam or upload icon and click on start. The rest is up to you!
Remember that without most of the people we have in our lives we could not be where we are today. So make sure your friends and family know what they mean to you this holiday season! And remember, receiving the gift of friendship is defined by learning to accept it. Taking the initiative to thank those who are willing to call your their friend shows everyone else how truly appreciating and thoughtful you are, and in the long run it is those who know how to treat their friends right who end up with more friends than they can count. Please take the time to give thanks to at least one person today in the online world. In doing so, you help make this world a better place. There is no better way to put a smile on your own face, then to put one on the face of someone else. 
Happy Holidays Everyone!
