Within an application you might wish to differentiate between types of material using icons, picons and micons. A moving icon could lead to a movie and a more symbolic icon could provide background information. Using different styles and types of buttons in this way allows your viewer to know what kind of material is available behind a button.
As a foot note, you should be aware that many people consider use of animated buttons rather crass and you will sometimes come across pages so full of small animated icons that they may remind you of 'Toon Town'. Use with care.
You could think about what icon would represent the postal service in different countries and cultures. In much of Europe, for instance, a Post Horn design is used. The ALT tag on a web page can be used to give an explicit message about the purpose of the icon.
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