Touchnote lets FB users send real postcards for free

Send some of your friends, family real mail without going to the Post Office

In this highly connected, digital world, most of us have very shoddy address books that might have a person's number and an email address, but physical addresses seem to be a thing of the past. Whether you've known someone for weeks or years, any chance of sending them a physical invitation or gift becomes an awkward time to ask to get their address. Personally, I feel like I'm asking for permission to stalk someone when I ask for an address, or (in the least) admitting I am a terrible friend for not knowing.

But now you can go on vacation and send friends a postcard without knowing someone's address thanks to Touchnote's new Facebook app update with an address-less feature. Touchnote allows you to create a postcard using Facebook photos and you choose which friend to send it to, then the company requests your friend's address, prints out the postcard and sends it right to them. See, its not that you didn't know their address, its Touchnote taking the fall. (Not convinced that its any different?)

Well, for the privacy concerned, Touchnote assures users that the address is only used for the card and has a pretty heft privacy policy to back it up. And, thanks to an Olympic tie-in with Samsung, you can use the service this month totally free.  More than 750,000 people have already made Facebook photos into cards -- why aren't you sending them to everyone?

If you are anything like me you would be putting standard stamps on postcards just to avoid waiting in line at the Post Office to get the postcard stamps. Frankly, the additional 12 cents is worth my sanity. But here you get the kudos for sending real mail without the Post Office hassle. 

To date, Touchnote has seen more than two million downloads of its Android and iOS apps and has printed and sent cards from the US, UK, Australia and Germany to destinations worldwide. It also says that due to increasing demand in Japan (which accounts for 11% of photography app users), the company’s Android app is now available in Japanese.

while it reckons that its Facebook app is currently the most popular postcards app on the social network with 50,000 monthly active users.

Other companies like Sincerely focus on making your online photos postcards to send to friends and family and one company, CanvasPop even markets itself as a way to make your Instagram gems into wall art. The future seems to be making ways to leverage all these online albums we create to give people real-world gifts, because, lets face it, you want something to leave through in your old age, not scroll down.