Apparently Old People Aren’t Dying To Use Eons
Duncan Riley
66 comments »
The take up of social networking services among over 50’s would appear to be not booming at nearly the same level as the birthrate of the United States in the 50’s and 60’s, with news that Eons has shed 24 staff members. Another twelve employees have left “voluntarily,” bringing the total headcount reduction to around 50%.
According to a report on Xconomy, Eons founder Jeff Taylor, who is too young to use his own site, “called together his remaining staff and engaged in a moment of remembrance for the 24 colleagues he had just laid off…in a dramatic, sobering, but ultimately healthy and air-clearing scene.”
Eons launched in August 2006 with a over 50’s focused social network that included an obituary feature which Michael Arrington reported as seeming “both gimmicky and somewhat distasteful.” The Obituary section includes notable deaths and additional features like deaths near your location “all tastefully wrapped in funeral home, medicare and netflix (?) advertising.”
The sector is far more crowded than when Eons launched, with sites such as BOOMj and others attempting to deliver are more friendly version of MySpace and Facebook to seniors.
Sequoia Capital and General Catalyst, who have invested $32 million in Eons over two rounds, are said to have demanded the restructure.
Update: Here’s a look back on their original ad campaign:
Thanks Mike Blair
Did you say 32 million?
Are you sure you didn’t miss a dot between the 3 and the 2?
Oh my…
What RBA said.
And i would like to add: OMFG!!! Ö
32 M?? Are you sure? Man it is 99 all over again.
Yes, last round in March 07 was $20million by itself.
both sites suck, but atleast Boomj has a slightly better name than Eons…Eons - wtf is that, sounds too sciencey.
does myspace have a slogan that says teenage or young adult networking site? no.
same should go for Eons…much more so for Eons, because old people don’t like to be labeled as being oohhhhllld.
OMG!!!
I can’t believe they even made a social networking site for people over 50…
Thanks TC, good coverage of the SoNet space
I’ll add this to the Digest
http://www.web-strategist.com/.....ry/digest/
I don’t think this is the “end” of social networks for older people but only a backlash. Look at the demographic trends in nearly all industrialized countries: Japan and Germany, for example.
I am sure we will see many, many more sites which just meet a certain demand.
32 Million - that is unbelievable. For this site ? WTF ?
ps - whoever did they site design and logo should be shot
I think the challenge with this market is that people don’t want to admit their old…even if you’re 50+ you want to act young…joining a site like this is admitting you’re old. I think they missed the boat with the whole message
well at least Eons raised enough money to afford a restructure
Life should be celebrated while living it, not planning its demise.
Jon
“I think the challenge with this market is that people don’t want to admit their old…even if you’re 50+ you want to act young…”
I’d say it’s more the case that 50+ isn’t old, though it may look that way young Mr. Duncan and the rest of the kiddies. But most people have learned to have a life by the time they’re 50+, rather than be stuck in social networks with the babes.
32M WTF I must be doing something wrong.
hmmm. I wonder how much I could get for a social networking site for dead people.
Gives me hope there might be VC money available for my “life after death” social networking site - ads by St. Peter, beelzebub, and Linden Labs.
Taylor turned Monster.com into a billion-dollar business. $32M isn’t really that outrageous in that context. I do think Eons was burning through way too much cash and lacked focus.
Shelley–I agree with your sentiment re: 50+ not being old but a time when people have figured out how to have a life. The big question is whether there’s room in those lives for Eons-style social networking. We’ll see…
$32 million… It is fantastic…
what in the world was a staff of 48 people working on anyway !???
> “Apparently Old People Aren’t Dying To Use Eons”
Sorry, does that mean that they’re just dying then…?
lol… did anyone notice the Dead or Alive Trivia Game? That’s one of the funniest things I’ve seen in a while.
Having had several conversations with Eons founder Jeff Taylor I can personally testify to the fact that arrogance “we know what we are doing” has made the survival of Eons questionable. A friend who has consulted with Eons agrees that ego has gotten in the way of wisdom. If I were a VC backing Eons, I would demand that Taylor they bring someone in who understands this market (obituaries, indeed!) Short of that, I predict Eons own obit will appear within the next year to 18 months. A pity. I originally thought AARP finally had a formidable competitor. A great opportunity blown by hubris.
Too depressing!
http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com
ummm, some day everyone here will be over 50. or, if any died prematurely, we will remember you in a virtual obit. come on, it’s what we are all heading towards. maybe 32MM was a bit hasty, they could have just put up a $10/month blog page for about 15 years and earned interest on the 32MM, but, the idea is sound.
It is absolutely right to say that the 50+ market is a challenge - but it is worth it! eons is a huge mixture of sn and many other features found in the internet. This and the fact that they mix 50+ with seniors is the reason that it didn’t work right in the past… But: Not only examples of other countries (e.g. Germany with http://www.platinnetz.de) show that there is a way to attract 50 somethings… and to do it in a sex way - without viagra advertising and stuff…
Waaayyy too depressing!
http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com
sorry, meant “in a sexy way” of course….
Why the so called startup needed 24 employees is beyond me. Even 3 is more than it needed. Just goes to show VC are still sticking to “Serial Entrepreneurs” when in fact startups require fresh ideas now days. OLD boys are losing it to the youngsters.
Quite frankly, I’m the market and I don’t see the use of any of these sites to me, because they isolate me from the mainstream. If I’m going to be on a social network, and I am on many, it will be Facebook. I always find it amusing that the developers of these sites think people my age are only interested in finances, golf and health. WRONG! I registered for Eons and never went back.
The real story with this EONs is how incredibly, amazingly bad and annoying the television commercials are for it? Hasn’t anyone else seen them?
This must be what eons is spending all their VC on:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=HhA.....mp;search=
If I was over 50+ I’d be insulted by this!
This news makes Matt Richtel’s article on “the stickiness of old people “even more absurd than I already thought it was. I definitely wouldn’t want to use a site that’s supposedly catering to my age. My hobbies or interests maybe, but certainly not age.
Despite Richtel’s inclusion of Multiply in the list of sites “catering” to the older set, I really think he missed the mark there. Multiply “caters” to thinking people. There are teenagers that use Multiply exactly because it’s not like Myspace or Facebook. It’s a site for substantive conversations, not just about health issues as Richtel implied, but about anything. (Richtel didn’t want to hear any of that when I talked to him, however. He was dead set on pegging these sites as being for seniors only.)
“http://youtube.com/watch?v=HhA…..mp;search=” — Mike B.
Boom? Boom? Boom? That’s not only insulting to “people like you,” that’s all around scary. I’d definitely turn tail and run the other way.
“Quite frankly, I’m the market and I don’t see the use of any of these sites to me, because they isolate me from the mainstream.” — francine h.
I’m not the market, but even if there was a site geared toward “Gen X” I really doubt I’d use it.
I’m not looking for a site that’s going to try to force someone else’s agenda for my age group on me. I want a social site that works and works well. I want a site that’s going to enable me to get my own content out to exactly the people I want it to go out to. And I only want to have to deal with content coming in that I’ve chosen to see. It’s not about the age of the users but the functionality of the site.
32 big ones? Incredible …. they either have a lot of talent in convincing VCs, or the VCs had nowhere to burn their money at the time. Wow…
I think you meant: “The sector is far more crowded THAN when Eons launched…”
I think many people in this age group prefer personal face to face communication and telephones. I see this as another case of “a solution without a problem”. Talk about not understanding the market.
Now, when today’s teenagers are 50+ I could see this idea having more traction.
well, from the boston rumor mill this was already circulating last winter - they couldn’t retain their best ajax and rub devs and their lead was on contract as of last winter….they had over a dozen ruby related projects cooking along with no clear focus or goals, just lots of doo-dads…
that’s the rub, huh? selling this to seniors in this form of packaging is all wrong…the whole site is wrong, but they’ll just never see it that way…
How does such a site attract $32M ? That’s ridiculous.
“what in the world was a staff of 48 people working on anyway???”
Yeah! WTF! I run everything on http://www.TheBikerWeb.com and http://www.BikerSeek.com with a staff of — oh ya, it’s just me!
Oh, what I could do with $32 mill and a staff of 48….
Did anyone see this: More Money!
“the company was able to raise $22M today in Series B funding led by Charles River Ventures with Intel Capital, Humana, General Catalyst Partners and Sequoia Capital. We suppose those guys just like the market and think that with enough cash, Eons can figure it out. Plus they must be seduced by Taylor who founded Monster.com back in the day.”
22m more. Thank can’t be right…
Just found out that A:C might have it wrong and the 22m was back in March.
I hope so…
I am appalled at the ageism in these posts. The tone was set by the title of the piece. I look forward to you all reaching the half-century mark and looking back on your comments. Thanks to modern medicine, a positive outlook and good genes I expect to be around to laugh.
“I am appalled at the ageism in these posts.” — Elder
So, Elder, are you saying that you’d *prefer* to be targeted as an “over 50″? Personally, I’d rather not be targeted as an over 35, even though I am. I simply don’t see my age as a prominent part of my identity (nor a prominent part of what I’m looking for in a social site). It’s certainly a piece, but a focal point? Not for me.
What Mike B said.
If the tone of the site is anything like the tone of the commercial, no wonder it’s tanking!
Well if a company ever started on the wrong foot it’s this one. Starting with the name as mentioned in the first few comments. ‘EONS’ for crying out loud. Honestly whoever came up with this name for a moneymaking venture targetted towards older adults is a certifiable moron. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot. I have to agree there is a lot of ageism in western society and much of it is due to ignorance. I think there is a common sense rule here, people don’t want to reminded of their age unless they are practicing counting it on their fingers. I think the way to skillfully skew to your demographic is with a soft touch, not by saying we’re for old people or youg people. CBS did it with programming in the ’90s. All you do is provide products and services that appeal to your target. People respond to dignified subtle queues, not over the top branding that says this is where old people hang out.
This has got to be one of the whackest dotcom concepts of all time, with one of the weirdest and smarmiest CEOs and one of the most patronizing ad campaigns ever. Exploiting old people — nice business plan!
“I’m not looking for a site that’s going to try to force someone else’s agenda for my age group on me. ”
Well said.
A couple of other things: Taylor’s hand gestures are reminiscent of Donald Rumsfeld on crystal meth, and those glasses are not retro-hip, they’re retro-goofy. He comes across as a demented cheerleader for a vapid product.
When I first saw the commercial for Eons and the search engine called “cranky” I knew this person was CLUELESS about what people in my age group are looking for online. When I use the net it’s to give or receive advice ( not answers), focus on a particular interest but not really for socializing. I agree the 50+ market cannot be treated like the “younger” generation, who grew up on video games and competing for “points” like an arcade game. However, I would be interested in hearing what those who read this site, like myself, feel is the way to target and grow a boomer ( not senior) audience online.
haha!
and ppl are getting offended here o_O?
you just feel old! silly insecurities!
I used to work for Jeff Taylor at Monster….it was around the time he was strutting his “Harvard MBA”….unfortunately he was caught pants down when the press did a little investigation. Ooops. Couldn’t have have happened to a nicer guy….what an ass.
BTW- The inside story on the Monster.com, he didn’t come up with it…Jeff ran a small shop specializing in Job classifieds. One of his customers asked him to create an “Internet Ad” for them as they were recuiting engineers. So out of that customer came the “MonsterBoard” (as in BBS on the internet). Jeff should get credit for realizing how big it could be and recruiting other companies into the database. But as much as he says publically that he invented it, privately he’ll tell you the real story. Kudos to him.
Eons has the right idea: create a comfortable place online for Boomers who have not embraced any of the youth focused Web 2.0 start-ups of the past few years.
Unfortunately, by focusing on age they’ve made a critical misstep. No one who is over 50 wants to be considered “old” and so they buy the Honda Element (marketed to teens and twenty somethings) and will probably skip Eons (marketed to Boomers).
At auditoriumA.com - a new content discovery service - we’ve created a completely intuitive interface that empowers Boomers and other busy professionals to unearth some of the web’s most interesting and entertaining buried treasures - even if they have minimal computer skills.
We’ve found the sweet spot right between grown-up and hip. Boomers know it when they see it and feel right at home among the 20 and 30 year olds.
32 what! Those VCs must have went to the same school as the guys at Yahoo that bought broadcast.com. With a culture focused so much on youth and staying young (or at least looking), no one wants to be put in the “over 50″ box.
The idea of a social network for older people is okay, I guess…but it seems more appropriate that there be some features for the elder generation within an established social network (e.g. MySpace, Facebook, etc.). Within the last week I convinced my mom to sign up for a Facebook account, since almost all of us “kids” have one. This is where the future is for over-50 and under. It allows one to communicate on a more regular basis. Isolating our elder relatives isn’t the way, rather integrating them into our current existence.
I have two words … COME ON!!
Don’t want do sound like an a**hole - but people over 50 actually know how to use a social network?
THIS COULD TURN OUT TO BE THE BEST THING FOR EONS.
Having survived a restructured company–that was later sold to Jeff Taylors first dot.com, Monster.com–I can say that it was the best thing that happened to us. It forced us to be a real company, be accountable and be focused, and most of all be really entrepreneurial. From being a month away from closing the doors, we grew to a solid company with great profit margins. So, we have to wait and see, but this might help eons in the long run.
A lot of you do not realize how compelling pedigree is with VC’s.
With a strong pedigree, plausibility of an idea is nothing short of meaningless.
“However, I would be interested in hearing what those who read this site, like myself, feel is the way to target and grow a boomer ( not senior) audience online.” — Larrian
One of the things I like about Multiply is that I’m completely in control of the content on my site. And I’m in control of who my contacts are who provide the rest of the content I see while I’m there. There’s nothing showing up on the site except what’s been recommended or written by my family and friends. No one else’s agenda, news reel, set of links, etc. is popping into my social experience without my specifically allowing that connection. I like that user provided content and the clear control I have over it.
I checked out auditoriumA.com (thanks for mentioning that, Tony) and the first thing that strikes me is that, though I can add suggestions, all of the content is provided for me. I get the impression this is how eons works as well. I tended to like what I saw at auditoriumA (I even found a few blogs I hadn’t heard of before that look great!) but I don’t think that’s what I’d want in a social site.
I’d venture to say that it’s not necessarily over 50’s who would like content provided, but a certainly personality type. And I’m curious to hear from people who like that content-provided style. What do you like about it (especially as compared to sites where you and your contacts provide the content that you interact with)?
Here’s a site with a ‘mature’ community and presentation - and they are doing it right!
Gather.com
Thanks for that commercial link Mike B
Wow… Talk about an “Oh… My… God…” moment. That thing was just mortifying.
Eons should have been “Peons”. An annoying ultimate douchebag on TV blabbing something stoopid, and a cluster-f site that reminds people they’re on the wrong side of middle-age ? Yeah that’ll work. A-holes .
I’m in my, um, “late” 40s and I sure as hell don’t want to be associated with a bunch of doddering an drooling old fools.
Next time VCs - shoot me a little of that $32M - I’ll figure out how to get the AARPers together fo’ real.
Moo
I have been putting off setting up a Facebook as I thought it was just for young adults and teenagers. Is that not true?
I was excited to find the Eons site through looking at a blog UNTIL I found out that if you’re not 50 you can join but you can’t do jack krap on the site….well at least not alot of the things I was interested in.
Gees, I’m 47. Isn’t there a place out there for us??????