November 27, 2015

Having your parents or elderly relatives on Facebook is something no one enjoys. There is the issue of your family getting to know what exactly it is that you do on social media (yes all those nasty post shares and swearing will need to be under control) and your virtual privacy will cease to perpetuate. Forget about how you feel, your parents or even grandparents perhaps don’t even like being on social media as there isn’t anything that is catered to their tastes or liking. So does that mean seniors will not be able to connect to each other on social media? Of course not! And the answer to that is Stitch.

Stitch is a social network which has been designed specifically for people over 50 years of age. The headquarters of Stitch is in Australia and the company is the winner of a recent TC Radio Pitch-off. The site enables users to connect to likeminded individuals and discover and make friends, romantic companions or simply try out new activities.

“Many older adults have lots of things they want to do, but nobody to do them with” says Marcie Rogo, cofounder of Stitch “Stitch meets this need with a unique and vibrant social network with the ability to meet other like-minded people through member-driven group activities, travel, and one-on-one companionship.”

“Many older adults have lots of things they want to do, but nobody to do them with” says Marcie Rogo, cofounder of Stitch “Stitch meets this need with a unique and vibrant social network with the ability to meet other like-minded people through member-driven group activities, travel, and one-on-one companionship.”

Don’t misconstrue Stitch to be an online dating site – many Stitch members host group events such as trivia nights or wine tasting. The social network already gathered 20,000 active members and over 50 active Stitch communities.

Users on Stitch can use the platform for free, but it also has a $60/year premium tier which will provide members with features such as unlimited profile views, boosted profile positions and member-to-member phone calls. The company informed that about 10% of the member who sign up with the platform, concerts to premium users.

Stitch also has a phone-based customer service platform whereby members can talk on the phone with a real human being. This feature might not seem appealing to the youth but an older demographic is more comfortable with speaking to another person via voice as opposed to in the virtual world.

The site is a spinout of a startup called Tapestry, which provides a tablet solution to help seniors stay connected in retirement communities. Stitch has been able to raise $1M in seed round in August and is planning a Series A for 2016.

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