Friends Aloud is a fun, different, and engaging way to interact with more than 500 million Facebook users, but there are real market needs that inspired us to create this app. There are many existing and potential Facebook users who simply cannot see well enough to follow their friends using their eyes alone. Friends Aloud is a godsend for them.

My 87-year old mother is a case in point. Back in the '90s, I bought her a $99 iOpener monochrome internet device that she used for over a decade to send and receive emails. When it bit the dust a few years ago, we tried to replace it with a laptop, but her shaky fingers and failing eyesight due to cataracts made using the conventional keyboard and trackpad difficult. We then tried a desktop with large monitor, one of those big multi-colored childrens' keyboards, and trackball, but even there she just got tired after a few minutes of fighting all those "new fangled" interfaces and gave up. She begged her sons and daughter, her grandchildren, and great-grandchildren to "just call me on the telephone," and we all tried, but life moves pretty fast these days and, sadly and guiltily, we never call often enough. Then she got Friends Aloud, and now she can listen to all of our Facebook updates whenever she likes and not depend on us remembering to call.

Cataracts affect more than 20.5 million Americans, and WHO estimates that there are more than 161 million visually-impaired people in the world.  The Facebook experience is about emotional connection with your loved ones, and you want to be part of your loved ones’ lives.  Many of these folks may have friends online and would love to share what’s happening in their lives.  Our priceless gift to these 180 million people: Friends Aloud.

Bob Wesson, CEO