Web Wooing MySpace for seniors?
By Suzanne Pekow
At 59, Dell Housewright, a divorced, self-employed, Southern California father of two, has found himself at the center of a cyber community that considers 50 the new 30. Housewright (also known as “Dellh553”), who lists “tourism” as one of his many part-time occupations, has never had trouble making friends or meeting women. But since he signed up with Eons.com, a new “social networking” Website for people over the age of 50, Housewright’s circle of friends has grown to include baby boomers and seniors from all over the world. And not just in the virtual sense. In July, Housewright and some 50 other Eons subscribers will board a cruise ship in Miami to spend five days and four nights together in the Western Caribbean. He’s the group’s unofficial cruise director. “Three of us were talking, getting to be friends online, and we wanted to find a way to meet. I figured I was the best one to organize it,” says Housewright, “being the professional tourist in the group.”
In the summer of 2006, Eons and its competitor, SeniorsGrandCentral.com, were launched by e-tycoons Jeff Taylor, former CEO of Monster.com, and Nathaniel Briggs, an independent software developer. Each entrepreneur sought to create an online community specifically for the baby-boomer generation (Americans born between 1946 and 1964) and older. Though boomers represent 26 percent of the population, according to the 2000 U.S. census, this demographic was excluded from the online social-networking fad until now. Most internet businesses revolve around the 15-to-35 age bracket. “There’s a huge sector of the market that’s just ignored,” Briggs says. He and Taylor each sought to pioneer for an underserved demographic new communities in the tradition of Generation Y cyber hangouts like Myspace.com and Friendster.com, where people create mini-Web “profiles” about themselves, meet new friends, and discover new music.
Both new “communities” entertain profiles, blogs, and discussion boards, but their interfaces are more basic than sites like Myspace, where occupants frequently “pimp” their profiles with multimedia and HTML-coded design templates. There’s no HTML knowledge required on the two new 50+ cyberzones. When you create a Website for a generation that did not grow up with color TVs, let alone the Internet, you have to be as user-friendly as possible.
Baby boomers “are a very social generation, and they want to connect with each other,” says Linda Nathensohn, senior vice president of business development for Eons. “If you provide them with a platform, they are very energetic creators.” The Eons platform includes “Life Dreams,” where members write a list of long-term goals that they can publish or keep private; “Life Maps,” which are expressive timelines of members’ lives personalized with photos and stories; and “Obits,” where members can write about deceased loved ones who might not receive such lengthy tributes in local newspapers.
Nancy Nordstrom, author of Learning Later, Living Greater, a guide to lifelong learning for older adults, says both Eons and SeniorsGrandCentral have filled a void in online resources for people over 50. “Most [senior-themed Websites] were just informational – about retirement, finances, and help,” she says, quickly adding: “Not that that’s not important, but none really gave older adults a community.” At 61, Nordstrom is an advocate for men and women who take advantage of their golden years by continuing to learn in multiple settings, from the classroom to the tour bus. In her monthly column on lifelong learning for SeniorsGrandCentral, she often refers to a recent study in the Annals of Internal Medicine that links social activity to prevention of cognitive decline in older adults.
One of the ways SeniorsGrandCentral seeks to widen the social connections of older adults is through its innovative Pen Pal Finder. In the “Connect” section of the site, every SeniorsGrandCentral respondent is represented by a little red dot on an interactive map of the world. Members can click on a red dot in, say, New Zealand, and instantly connect with someone there like “Motheaten,” a 57-year-old schoolteacher who enjoys wilderness trails and aqua jogging.
Nathaniel Briggs likes to point out that SeniorsGrandCentral is far more specialized than social Websites for younger audiences. “I see social networks popping up left and right,” he says. “It’s sad that every single one is just a copy of the Myspace model. They don’t offer any innovation. Who wants to do something cookie-cutterish?”
To break the mold, Briggs has come up with a formula to encourage repeat visits of a virtual meritocracy. More frequent visitors are awarded “profile points,” a system that allows “people who really want to be a part of it to rise to the top and enrich the community.” It’s no fun, Briggs says, “connecting with someone who is not involved. You can’t show up at the soccer game without your cleats and expect to play.”
From the chatter of activity on both 50+ sites, neither Nathaniel Briggs nor Jeff Taylor have to worry about lapses in frequency of visits any time soon. On the contrary, online social-networking sites have been a godsend for some folk, says Dell Housewright. As one of the most popular Eons members – thanks to his role as cruise organizer – Housewright has helped bring a lot of first-time users into the Eons club. Many he’s met have been recently divorced or widowed. “Most of the people that come on have what are, in their minds, really sad stories. Being able to talk to someone you can’t see online, whom you begin to trust, you feel better.” Reaching out to people online has helped many of the bewildered to gain more confidence in real life.
Housewright will find out how accurate his online observations are on July 16, 2007, when he meets many of his cyber-pals for the first time, face to face, aboard a cruise ship in Miami.
