I’ve been singing the praises of Facebook recently (despite the Microsoft investment) simply because it’s great fun and after a start with college age kids it has gained massive momentum with those of us way past that stage in life. So imagine my surprise when I come across a debate (albeit based in the US) in Publishing 2.0 about the age factor for online social networking.And then I find a great article (this side of the pond) in Times Online called “Forget Facebook – this is social networking for the silver surfer”. There is apparently a new wave of online social networking for the more mature web user and at the forefront of this is Saga, the travel-to-insurance company that specialises in serving those over the first flush of youth. A trial run of the Saga Zone website started four months ago and about 13,000 people signed up.
Now it is live and we will see how it grows. On it, those over their half-century can find forums on subjects ranging from gardening to relationship advice. They can enter their personal profiles and hope that a like-minded mature citizen will respond. What the site clearly trades on is that maturity is not in every case the handmaiden of contentment. Contact with the outside world is a necessity at every stage of life, and romance does not necessarily die with the sprouting of the first grey hair. Andrew Goodsell, the group chief executive of Saga, said: “The internet is a place where the over50s are thriving. Saga Zone is a place where they can mingle and chat about issues important to them, be they amusing or serious.”
Already, the Saga Zone website has signed up an 87-year-old. A poll of more than 15,000 people aged over 50 in the United Kingdom showed that the so-called grey pound was a significant driving force in the online economy. Nearly three quarters of respondents had bought flights online, a similar number had bought books, and two thirds had bought electrical items. I love the way these survey findings support this natural selection of social netorks.
• 50% of over-55s have access to the web
• 7% look for love online
• 22% play games such as bingo
• 43% regularly buy and sell on eBay
Tags: online adverting
