Social Networking For the Over-50 Crowd

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Monster.com founder Jeff Taylor believes life begins at 50, and will today launch a social networking site geared toward the baby boomer crowd. "Live the best life possible" is the message the new site Eons.com plans to communicate.

Eons.com chose three pillars around which to serve the needs of those approaching retirement and those recently retired: finance, wellness and love. The latter encompasses relationships with family and friends. Additional components include the ability to build a goal-oriented “top 10” list of activities a user wants to accomplish in the years to come. The site will create associations between members with similar goals, and offer assistance to reach those goals.

Certain goals, such as "take a trip to Hawaii,” will serve as leads for marketers in travel and other industries. Early marketing partners hoping to generate leads through the site include Verizon Wireless, Hyatt, insurer Liberty Mutual, casino and resort company Harrah’s Entertainment, and health benefits provider Humana.

"We're excited about the reception we've gotten from marketers who have been looking for a way to reach this audience," said Eons.com SVP of Strategic Development Linda Natansohn. "Eons is like a breath of fresh air; we are approaching [the audience] with optimism and spirit. We've really been embraced and it feels like these companies have been waiting for a long time for a company like Eons to engage and innovate with."

Advertisers will have a range of opportunities to reach Eons.com users. The site is expected to offer standard display ad units as well as high-level sponsorships and very targeted contextual placements.

Eons.com will also launch "Cranky," a search engine geared toward users of the site. Some cranky results will be vetted by a team of human editors, and users can rate results. Cranky.com uses Ask.com technology. Natansohn was unable to say what type of ad units would be available.

Social aspects come into play through an overall participatory or co-creation environment. Part of our DNA is co-creation," said Natasohn. "Throughout the site and all the products we're going to offer, there will be an element of participation and co-creation. [The site will] provide a forum or place where people can connect with each other."

Eons.com also plans to syndicate obituaries and allow users to contribute memorial-style content. "We are going to launch with the largest obituary database," said Natasohn. "The goal is about paying tribute to people you love and celebrating life.”

Obituaries are a broken model, Natasohn said. People no longer stay in their geographic communities and don't have access to local obituaries. Eons.com plans to work directly with funeral homes to inform clients about the site's obituary feed and services.