The grandkids never call. They never write. They do something called Facebook on their laptops, and something called texting on their phones, but what good is that to a grandma who doesn’t have a computer or a cell phone?
Enter PostEgram, a 6-month-old Detroit-based startup that wants to bridge the gap between the greatest generation and the Facebook generation. For $4.99 a month, PostEgram creates a monthly digest of your Facebook activity, including your status updates and photos, formats it as a 12-page color newsletter, then prints it out on paper—the kind that comes from trees—and snail-mails it to the Facebook-phobe who wants to stay in touch without getting on the computer.
CEO Judy Davids hatched the idea while she was a student at Bidzom U, the not-for-profit entrepreneurship bootcamp launched by Quicken Loans chairman and founder Dan Gilbert. Davids’ inspiration: Her mother-in-law. “My mother-in-law was Facebook 1.0,” says Davids. In the pre-Facebook era, the elder Davids stayed in touch via phone calls and letters, and served as the family’s communications hub. Want to find out what’s up with the cousins? How did Aunt Selma’s surgery go? Ask her.
But once the family’s younger generations discovered Facebook, Davids recalls, “She was completely out of the loop! She was seeing less pictures, less phone calls.” Facebook had made her obsolete. Davids wanted a solution that would keep everyone in touch without requiring anyone to change their communication style. Her answer: PostEgram.
PostEgram now claims more than 3,000 subscribers. “It goes in spurts,” Davids says of growth in the subscriber base, which is driven by PR events and media coverage like a mention in the November 1 issue of Woman’s Day. In addition to seniors and their families, PostEgram appeals to men and women in