Missing someone this Christmas? A new Irish app, Huggnote, makes it easy to send a heartfelt message across the globe.
'Tis the season to be… well, stressed, and lonely according to research. With so many of us traveling for Christmas or living far away from home, it’s more important than ever to feel some love and support. A new Irish app is making it easier to stay connected in a meaningful way with loved ones, however far away they may be.
Founded by two Limerick sisters, Jacqui and Perry Meskell, Huggnote enables users to send Christmas "music huggs" to anyone, anywhere in the world, for free.
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“Nothing uplifts like music,” says founder Jacqui. “So it's such an easy way to make someone’s day – no matter how far away they are.
“And it’s so simple to use that we have users from age 18 to 80,” says Jacqui, who came up with the idea when living abroad when a friend of hers was going through a tough time at home.
“A song on the radio brought back such happy memories of us I knew it would do the same for her. But there wasn’t any meaningful way to send her the song,” Jacqui says.
And so Huggnote was born.
Huggnote - Send someone a message of music this Christmas.
With users in 144 countries and counting, Huggnote curates music by emotion so you can find the perfect song for anything you want to express and send it to anyone, anywhere from your mobile - instantly making their day. It’s all about the "experience" Jacqui says.
“It’s what we call the Huggnote effect! Music is extremely emotional and a powerful re-kindler of memories. So when you combine that with a heartfelt message, it’s very special to receive. Many users tell us how they were moved to tears by their hugg."
Sister and co-founder Perry agrees.
“It’s perfect for Christmas because we are all so stressed out or feeling guilty because of the friends we didn’t get to meet or cards we didn’t send. So we have a number of Christmas themes there, from simply ‘Merry Christmas’ – ideal to send generally to all your friends to ‘Missing You’ and ‘Mistletoe Kisses’ – for the love of your life… or even the one that got away,” Perry said.
“And of course loneliness is a real issue,” says Jacqui. “Especially at this time of year so many people are feeling very much left out of the fun everyone else seems to be having. In fact, we are twice as lonely now as we were in the 1980s.
"So sending a hugg is also a nice way to reach out to someone and show them a little love, with minimum effort. Because sometimes a small gesture can make all the difference.”
To send Christmas Huggs to friends/family for free – go to www.huggnote.com.
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