Eons.com, the recently launched community site for baby boomers, has been called the MySpace.com for the 50 plus crowd. But what makes MySpace, well, your space is the customization elements and the attitude. Eons.com, while still an interesting site, reminds me more of my old employer iVillage.com. But while iVillage is a site with content, message boards and tools aimed at women, Eons.com offers all that stuff for boomers (in larger sized fonts if desired).

They have games to boost brain power, which feel similar to games on iVillage (and other sites) designed to waste time. Instead of offering parenting advice for new mothers, they offer advice on how parents can communicate better with their grown children – and grandchildren. And instead of iVillage’s popular Pregnancy Calendar, Eons has the Longevity Calculator.

Most of the Groups (a.k.a. Clubs or Message Boards) they offer so far are pretty typical of any site, young or old, such as Arts & Entertainment, Reality TV Junkies and Movies. But there is also Biking Boomers, 50 + Singles and Weight Training for Seniors too. Eon also has its own search engine called cKranky, “a specialized age relevant web search engine for 50+”, that lists the Top 10 searched terms of the day, which is kind of interesting. Senior Sexuality was #2 the day I checked. Go gramps!

The other unique offering from Eons is Obits, “the largest national database of obituaries in the United States,” and Obit alerts, that “allow you to receive email messages on a daily or weekly basis, notifying you of deaths in designated geographies or in response to pre-defined keywords.” Once you turn 50, do you start reading the obituaries like the under 50 set currently read sports scores or wedding announcements? Interest in Obits, I have to admit, is something that I find curious.

While the Obits area does sound a bit morbid, founder Jeff Taylor, founder of Montster.com, says that Eons.com is not about death but about “celebrating turning the Big 5-0 and living the grandest life possible.”

Although the site is new and in need of membership, content and groups, I think they’ve touched upon an interesting concept: social networking for older folks. Once the site reaches critical mass (if it does), I can see it becoming a success. I kind of wish they had one for 30 to 50 years olds (who are not sexual predators). MySpace feels a too young for me, and Facebook won’t even allow me to join!

This entry was posted on Monday, September 11th, 2006 at 10:06 am and is filed under General, Finds, Social Networking.