Clearly, Facebook wants more users building and sharing videos on its service. Today, the company announced “Say Thanks,” a new tool that lets you quickly put together personalized video cards using a combination of pre-built themes and your own posts and photos. The end result is an easily shareable — if a bit cheesy — customized video you can post on yours and your friend’s Timelines.
To create the video, users visit facebook.com/thanks (note: the service is rolling out throughout the day, so check back if the URL is broken for you). They then select a friend, choose a theme, and pick out posts and photos that “represent your friendship,” explains Facebook in a blog post announcing the new tool.
The experience is somewhat reminiscent of using something like Flipagram, a mobile application that lets users put together short videos from their own photos and then share those creations to social networks. In fact, Flipagram hit the top of the Apple App Store over the 2013 holiday season thanks to its clever “Year in Review” feature that allowed users to make videos out of their Instagram photos. (Not too much later, word was that the startup was raising tens of millions at a $300 million valuation.)
Facebook, having the mobile data about what works thanks to its Onavo acquisition, could have seen the potential in Flipagram and decided to try something similar. Except, instead of “Year in Review” videos, it’s rolling out “Thanks” videos…just before Thanksgiving here in the U.S., of course.
After users finish their video, they can click “Share” to post it to their own Timeline, and tag their friend. An option to add a personalized message will also be available.
The company says the service is rolling out today on desktop and mobile in English, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Turkish.