BitShare

Postcards seem to be the sincerest form of flattery

Some say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Maybe not in this case though, as one of the oldest forms of communication in today’s instant-knowing-Twitter-esque world is coming full circle. The first record of a paper postcard being sent was some time around the year 1840. Now 172 years later they’re making a resurgence.

The resurgence started in April 2011, when Postagram was created. Postagram is an app that allows you to take photos from Instagram and send them in the traditional way of paper postcards. It’s a neat app using old ideas applied to new technology. It’s a niche market though, and isn’t ‘groundbreaking’ tech so there isn’t a lot of press on it. That was until later in 2011 when Apple had their iOS6 announcement event. During the event, a minor app was announced called the Cards app, which was a new app from Apple that does what - sends postcards made from your photos. Sounds familiar, right? At least that is what Sincerely said, the makers of Postagram, when they heard about the Apple Cards app.

Now, over a year later, Facebook is trying to get in on the 172 year old technology, you know, to stay ahead of the competition. Facebook is said to be working on their own postcard functionality that will allow you to send postcards from your photos - earth shattering!

According to Mashable, you will be take a photo and display it on the front of the card, and type a personalized message to your friends on the backside. Then you can add their address for it to be mailed off. For a nominal fee of course; this isn’t a free world now is it! Facebook is desperate to make money now that they are a public company, so I wouldn’t expect any less. I was kind of hoping Facebook would come up with some revolutionary way to communicate, instead they are just recycling old and overly used ideas. Pity.