Online Social Networking Grows Up

Move Over Kids, The Boomers Are Coming

Could old-timers be the new trend in social networking?

ARA) - At age 59, Dell Housewright is the future of online social networking.

Social networking -- connecting with people and forming communities using Web sites and online tools -- used to be only for the young who meet new friends at sites like MySpace and Facebook. But the massive adoption of the Internet by boomers is changing this scene. Today, a number of social networking sites targeted toward this more mature crowd are cropping up, including Gather, which fosters thoughtful conversations and debate, and sites like 55-Alive and Eons, both of which were created specifically for 50-plus social networking. These sites are arming their users with traditional social networking tools such as profiles, which let users express their personal interests and connect with others of like minds; blogs, where "conversations" happen through posting comments and photos; and groups, which bring just a few, or thousands of people, together around a passion or interest.

"Eons is a supporting place where people can come together," says Housewright, an author and seminar consultant who created his own blog and joined several groups at eons.com. "If you find you like the people in a group, you stay and you talk. If you don't find a group that's talking about what you want to talk about, you start your own group."

More than 300,000 boomers are participating in nearly 2,000 discussion communities hosted at Eons. Topics range from "50+ Singles" -- one of the most popular on the site and one where Housewright regularly converses with friends -- to the playful and irreverent "Hippies for Life," which is dedicated to "music, friends and peace," according to its organizers. And new groups are being created by users each day.

Eons' popularity reflects how boomers' quest to continue exploring life and making new connections that enrich their life is fueling the social networking world. With more than 44 million Americans age 50 to 64 online, social networking among this group is poised for growth.

And the lines separating the real and virtual worlds are rapidly blurring. Housewright is an example of those who are transforming social networking from a strictly online conversation to relationships that extend into the real world -- even romance for some single boomers.

After a casual suggestion in a discussion group with some of his online friends that the group should try to set up a meeting, Housewright and others began to exchange ideas. Travel was an interest they shared, so the concept took shape of organizing a singles cruise where some of them could get to know each other better.

"I thought that if we had five or six people who wanted to go, that would be good," says Housewright, whose book, "A Boomer's Tour of the Dating World," will be published later this year. "As it turned out, dozens of people from all over the country signed up." And the number will most likely grow by the time the ship pushes off from its Florida port for a five-day Caribbean cruise this summer.

Eons CEO Jeff Taylor, the Internet maverick who founded career site Monster.com in the mid-1990s, says he founded his new company last year with the goal of creating a social networking site that is the center of gravity for everything 50-plus.

"Boomers want in," Taylor says. "They're ready to play, and they want to be with like-minded people where they can bring all their life experiences and knowledge to bear. Eons is squarely in the middle of that conversation, creating tools that make connecting with new friends easier. When we see Dell and his group taking that leap from the online world into reality, it helps assure us that we are providing a fertile ground for those loving life on the flipside of 50."

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