Eons.com Targets Social Networking at 50+ Crowd

Founder of Monster.com, Jeff Taylor, unveiled his latest project: Eons.com, a social networking site aimed at Web users aged 50 and over.

“This new generation of boomers and seniors is hungry to live the biggest life possible,” said Taylor.

Taylor is only 45-years-old, but still sees the logic and value of going after American Web users who are over 50. He points out the facts that 44 million of the 86 million Americans over 50 use the Internet, and that this demographic is also financially powerful, controlling about 67% of the country’s wealth.

“We now live about 20 years longer than our grandparents,” said Taylor, pointing out the longevity of this wealthy crowd.

The site functions around four “pillars”: Body, Money, Love, and Fun. In light of these pillars, Eons offers a variety of targeted and interesting products for its baby boomer users.

Utilizing Ask.com technology, Eons will launch cRANKy, a search engine geared specifically to meet the needs of the over 50 crowd. Taylor says that “Consumers, especially the 50+ group, don’t want millions of results, they want the best results.” Eons will aim to do this by displaying the four best search results, based on the discernment of the site’s editorial group, as well as member ratings and rankings, in addition to factoring in which of the resulting sites is most viewed.

Obits is another product offered by Eons. It is already the nation’s biggest free obituary database, holding 77 million death records. Obits will be a place where Eons users can add photos, videos, and comments to obituaries, and will allow users to sign up to receive alerts whenever someone from a specified area, company, or school in the U.S. dies.

“Just as the help wanted classifieds have been transformed to the Web, Eons brings the obituary notice into the 21st century by offering timeless, unrestricted space for the celebration of life,” said Taylor.

Another feature will enable users to create a “Top 10” list of things they want to do by the time they reach 100. The list can include up to 100 goals. Users will be guided to other users with similar goals, as well as a variety of other resources to help them check everything off of their lists. A listing of the most up-to-date top 100 goals shared by Eons users will be viewable by users.

LifeMap will allow users to build a visual timeline of their life history, which can be saved online. Photos can be added to entries, and a slideshow will display all entries in a single chain.

The site is also exploring a way to allow people to plan out the songs that will play at their own funerals, as well as a post-funeral location that friends and family can go afterwards to eat and drink. This would give users more control over their own funeral, which is a desire they have expressed.

Eons also presents a unique and potentially lucrative opportunity for advertisers. Goals will be used to target users, for example. Big companies like Harrah’s Entertainment, Humana, Hyatt, Liberty Mutual, and Verizon Wireless have already signed up to advertise on the site.

“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,” said Linda Natansohn, Senior Vice President of Strategic Development at Eons.

Sources:

http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/
index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=
20060731005790&newsLang=en

http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3623018

http://today.reuters.com/news/NewsArticle.aspx?type=
internetNews&storyID=2006-07-31T205712Z_01_N31302628
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