When Jeff Taylor launched old-people social network Eons in August 2006, he couldn’t use the site. That’s because the minimum age was 50, and he was just 45.
That was the first warning sign that this thing was headed to the deadpool.
Our initial review of the site was a thumbs down. Not only is it ridiculous that the founder and visionary for the service couldn’t actually use it, we found it to be poorly organized. It included depressing features like an obituary section (that must be fun to read every day when you log in). In short, we said it embraced all of the hype of social networking, but none of the spirit.
It took about a year for the company to start laying off staff. No surprise there - Comscore has measured the slow decline of the company from mediocrity to downright desolation. They went from a high of 1.2 million worldwide visitors in May 2007 to just 400,000 last month. Incredibly, they’ve raised $32 million in capital from first tier VCs to get those 400k visitors.
Minimum Age To Join Eons Is Now 50 13
From today on, however, Taylor can start to use his site. They’ve lowered the minimum age requirement from 50 to…13. They’re still focusing on the older generation in their content, you just don’t have to actually be old to join. The key is your state of mind. Taylor says “It’s the attitude and energy of our generation that defines us — our collective BOOM!”
The change is reminiscent of Facebook’s move to allow non-students to join the network in late 2006. Except that it isn’t going to work. Facebook dominated the student market, and people were clamoring to get in and hang out with those young trendsetters. Eons doesn’t dominate its core market, and that core market certainly doesn’t include any trendsetters.
Eons as a business plan probably looked great on paper. Lots and lots of baby boomers are nearing retirement age. They’re online and they have a lot of free time, but they don’t want to hang out at MySpace and Facebook. So Eons builds them a social network they can call their own. Investors threw money at it.
The problem is that these people have better things to do than make countless numbers of anonymous online friends, and then poke them and flirt with them. And if they are going to do all of that, they’ll probably have more fun hitting on the youngsters at the real social networks. My guess is that Facebook has more members over 50 than Eons does.
By the way, the comments to Taylor’s announcement are classic. Users are not happy that teenagers might be invading Eons. One says “But have you read some of the stuff that comes out of those kids mouths? Where are their parents? They must not give a hoot. I for 1 do not wish to deal with it.” Another complains that his comment was deleted and says “You’ve perpetrated a classic “bait and switch” scheme on all of us baby boomers … your dishonesty is disgusting.”
Something tells me no teenager would be caught dead hanging out at Eons. Or, really, anyone else.
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The older generations (40 plus) are time constrained and have less online leisure time. Therefore their requirements are different- yes, they do want to upload, back up and communicate digitally but in a different way with different priorities. Casual acquaintainces do not excite but family and close friends do. Privacy is paramount.
Its a matter of looking for what these people really want, and giving it to them and never presuming.
It is an excellent market to sell into from an advertising point of view thats for sure.
exiva.com
share your life, treasure the privacy
So where do seniors actually hang out on the net? Does Eons have a competitor? Who’s in this space?
Seems like a good idea to me, marketing to a specific audience? Oh well
http://www.whatshottoday.com
Guys, what’s up with that annoying animated ad? I wonder what other advertisers are thinking about it. Used to be all equal.
The biggest issue I have with Eons is the design. It just looks very flat and boring. Just look at the home page and what’s all that wasted white space. Designer : ever hear of the term, below the fold.
@ Michael
Is techcrunch.co.uk down?
We’re sorry, Eons is temporarily unavailable,
is the message I got, but Boomj was open
Eons sounds like it started with a good basic idea but expanding the service to everybody is not the answer. They have to think of something else.
add them to the deadpool. I do not see this site/business working. Jeff Taylor will fail.
Dear Friend,
Some products and idea are destined for dead pool.
http://tekno-world.blogspot.com
Welcome to Jurassic Park!!!
$32 million?! I guess it’s a little harder to pull another Monster.com, but give the guy props for trying.
It seems like they really mismanaged their VC investment. To take in that much money and only generate 1.2 million uniques in a month is downright pathetic. I hope they at least spent some of the $32 million advertising at bingo halls.
good idea
The concept was brilliant, but their strategy was flawed…Dino’s have to be handled with care….
They could have used any of the social network platforms to see if the concept really works
RK
http://www.RentalAndRealEstate.com
Have you looked at the site? It’s terrible. Have you seen Jeff’s TV ads for Eons.com? They are downright awful. He’s clearly an ego-maniac because he stars in the commercials. He’s going to fail.
We went to sell this company technology….let me say on the record if was without doubt the most dsisorganized, confused ‘dot.com’ we ever sold! tons of expensive older folk with mbas running around fancy historic building all trying to figure you how to turn on the lightbulb. deadpool PLEASE!!!!
Im sorry but I still cant stop laughing 13 - knee slap whooooooooooo. Nothing like telling the whole world we we dead wrong lololololo. WHoa what a joke because 13 year olds want to be in the same website with grandpa!!! OOO so funny no child predator situation going to arise there. I dont know whats funnier this or that MOLI the other day got another $20 plus million and they will be on the dead pool too when they blow that money as well. I guess we should call the site PEONS “PEE-ONS” intead of EONS this way they can open it up to 13 month olds as well. Thanks techcrunch i havent laughed this hard in some time
I have to add one thing im watching this field closely what companies do you think will make it in the 24-54 year old space clearly BOOMJ MOLI and EONS are going towards the dead pool any thoughts?
@ #2: There’s also http://www.webbiographies.com, though that’s more tailored for people into online scrapbooking, journaling, and genealogy/family trees. You should check them out on Wikipedia to get some more info on it than I can share here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebBiographies
the “24-54 year old space”???
hi,
Former eons employee here, one of those laid off.
When you get over the schadenfreude, spend some time on the site. It’s a vibrant community. Not an easy thing to create for any amount of money. The volume of angry attention this change is getting from Eons members is a testament to how much of a connection it’s made with its users. Lots and lots of people *really* love this site.
I agree the management made a mistake here, at least in the way they’ve communicated this change. But hopefully they’ll find a way to make it right in the next few days. There’s still a bunch of smart people working there!
I really don’t see these age-based niches working for social networking.
“Something tells me no teenager would be caught dead hanging out at Eons. Or, really, anyone else.”
I wonder what the people in the obituary section would have to say about that!!?!! Ho Ho Ho
So, obvious spam (comments that offer no useful response except a linkback) get through on like 90% of your posts, but helpful links that actually answer a person’s question (i.e. #2) are stuck awaiting moderation?
Of course one reads the obituary section of a newspaper first. Knowing that your adversaries have croaked in a suitably agonising way sets you up for the rest of the day.
But I think they have missed something fundamental. If you haven’t made it in the real world by the age of 20, then you can at least pretend that social networking is a useful proxy. If you haven’t made it by the age of 50, then you might as well give up.
Yes Michael who commands just the 24-54 year old social space. As we have seen MOLI EONS and BOOMJ arent going to make it no matter how much money (dumb money) is poured into these ventures. I know you could say myspace or facebook but do adults really want to “hang” with kids. If you think about it its why EONS PEEONS will fail they think they are going to try to add kids to old people I mean come on that is just dumb because it will never work.
Also im sorry Evan I do disagree with you at least on some level. Maybe its not 24-54 or 50 plus but dont you think people older than say 25 or 30 want a place of there own? I know I dont want my kids to see my myspace profile and even though I am on facebook I must tell you that for as many people I know on facebook there are many many many many more not on facebook. I think they are not on facebook because well they are older and they simply dont undertsand social sites - yet! AS you know the kids are the early developers but the adults are the late developers. If I had to make a bet just like facebook took the college kids someone is going to capture the adults the question is who? I have seen other sites names thrown around but I really wanted your opinion if you have ever thought about this at all.
BTW, since when does a link to a Wikipedia article deserve to be stuck awaiting moderation???
@Jordan - you’ve been looking at this for personal or business reasons? (just curious as to your opinion).
@exeonser - i don’t think it’s really schadenfreude, but rather looking at the money spent, then looking at the end result and wondering what happened in between. I don’t think 50 year olds have one foot in the grave but some have said the site makes them feel that way. On paper the idea is great. Execution - maybe not so much.
I think you hit it right on the head with this statement
“The problem is that these people have better things to do than make countless numbers of anonymous online friends, and then poke them and flirt with them.”
It is natural for the teens to 30 crowd to want to be popular and make as many friends as possible. It started in high school and likely to continue till one gets married. After that, I suspect their priorities will change with kids, family, etc. and will have significantly less time to poke their friends.
I think the
strikethroughhas jumped the shark.Just say that the minimum age is 13 and be done with it.
You know, actually, a lot of older folks DO like to read obituaries … I’m not pyschologist, it may sound morbid but perhaps it helps them … I could see that actually being a killer app to aggregate them nationwide …
The ultimate power of mass social networking is in the numbers ie in myspace with music promotion, in facebook with its applications.
The clever person will find a way of selling to these older people something that they want, thru an online experience that they want and in the numbers that they want.
exiva.com
share your life, treasure your privacy
Many of these old timers are still leasing telephones from at&t. Eons should convince their VCs that they can sell “Depends” under cost and make it up in volume ; ). But a company that I consulted with did successfully sell interactive video to an retirement home. You just never know.
@Jason, legacy.com already exists for that purpose.
http://termlifeinsurancerate.net/f I had to make a bet just like facebook took the college kids someone is going to capture the adults the question is who?
Yes Rubu who?
this gets tried periodically and fails every time. (anyone but me remember the wildly funded Third Age Media from web 1.0?)
the reason why is, while people will self-identify and congregate around shared interests, old age (or anything that remotely sounds like old age) ain’t one of those interests. we live in a culture that prizes youth above all. literally no one wants to say, “i’m old” or belong to groups for oldsters (at least, until they need someone to hold the spoon and wipe the chin.)
the oft-repeated mistake is to look at AARP and say, we can do that better and for profit! people dont join AARP; AARP automatically enrolls everyone over 50 in their group and do it by getting proprietary access to the social security database (so they know when every american turns 50). they get this privelge because they are a non-profit and (supposedly) of altruistic motives. but think about it? have you ever know anyone who is thrilled to get that first issue of their free subscription to AARP’s magazine, “modern maturity”? heck no. literally everyone gets embarassed or pissed and ignores it or throws it away. maybe later they come to appreciate it, but it dont get left on the coffee table.
the over 50 crowd will happily congregate around “travel” and will quietly but determinedly look for stuff that appeals to them but they will never congregate around “senior travel”. period. etc.
this is a hail mary pass from eons. its investors are depressed and angry.
I don’t know anyone under 30 who would waste time on the site.
It is pretty poorly laid out, doesn’t seem to have any rhyme or reason. It is difficult to navigate and the site can’t really be searched for information. It is difficult to find groups to join without searching through pages and pages of listings. It is almost a bunch of little rooms with no connecting doors. You can’t even search posts within a group. The best way to find something you are looking for is to search on google, eons ranks high on returns.
The members actually banded together to form a group to hack their profiles and the company resisted all efforts at doing this. Finally they offered prizes for the most attractive profiles and then changed the code so all the memberships efforts will be lost. Huh??
Typical of the reasoning behind the place.
Invite all the dissenting voices into one group and then censor them.
Plant members in groups they think may be a problem.
Encourage members to meet in groups off site and then try to bury it when one member is assaulted by another at one of these gathering where a representative from the company was present.
The idea itself wasn’t a bad one but it is dead now. Who will ever put money into a site for older people when they have such a resounding flop to point to. Too bad, I was rather happy to have a group of people who had lived the same events I had to hang out with but even then the most active groups were the ‘adult’ type groups. Don’t even want to go there, way too much imagination.
@venessa-
Just an observation. If you are going to make condescending remarks about “old-timers” and “depends” on a site that gets the kind of traffic that TechCrunch does, you may not want to link to the site you represent because there are a few of us old farts who read this site as well who don’t appreciate blatant ageist comments. You can read about it on my blog tomorrow which by the way is read by a fair number of “old timers.”
OOPS……….. Guess I’m not so savvy after all. I put my email address in the URL line. It’s fixed now.
@insider - you may be an insider, but you don’t know anything about aarp. Membership is not automatic. The mailed solicitations are sent when one turns 50, but the person then has to sign up/pay.
But I agree with you about eons’ investors, they are not quiet about their feelings.
Thanks for the news. I blogged your blog:
Eons: An Almost Obit
Savvy beat me to it by minutes. I was simply going to say, “And if you read my post, let me apologize upfront for my ageist remarks. As I mention, some of my best friends are under fifty…”
A few corrections in this comment section:
1) You are not automatically enrolled in AARP when you turn fifty. You have to join and pay dues. They do have access to something or other and know when people turn fifty - and then come the come-ons. But you do not get AARP magazine, the card, the discounts - or anything - unless you fill out a form, pay your money, and join.
2) Third Age is still up and running, and successful for what it is - a low-key site with (originally) an altruistic agenda. It’s been around since 1996 - and, to keep up with the times, has become more commercial. Let’s just say that it’s not making anybody rich - but fills a content niche and does okay.
Within 2 days of this announcement, membership at seniorocity.com jumped 1000%! Maybe that says something!
Man! I found this through a link in one of our groups on Eons. I am really shocked at how you, I don’t know your ages, young folks see us. Dinos? I am so saddened at your views about those of us who are over 50…
Eons is actually a very dynamic site and it helped save my life, literally. I have been there since 07/07 and have grown from a depressed and dying older woman to an invigorated manager of three groups who has decided to live her best life and contribute knowledge and experience to others.
I don’t really know what else to say and I am sure you are yawning over your latte already. I wish I hadn’t followed this link, I can sure say that.
Well, best wishes to the youth of the world from a “dino in depends”. *sigh*
RT Shores
Hi. I’m a 62 year old EONS member, I’m also a member of Facebook and MySpace, although I admit to not being at all active on those sites. I also moderate at another allages online site.
I was excited when I saw ads for EONS and thought it sounded like fun. I joined and started a group, which by now has over 2000 members. It was fun saying to friends and family that I had my own MySpace, LOL.
Do not buy Depends. Do not read obituaries, although some of my friends, even the younger ones, do. I text message regularly. Do not lease a phone from AT&T. Do not own a Jitterbug. Have all my own teeth and body parts. From what I’ve read here, some people have an outdated view of Seniors. We are not our grandmothers, or even our mothers. Please don’t stereotype us.
Many of us Boomers retired early and we do have time to spend on the internet. Eons gave us a chance to connect with others that we might never have met.
It was not as much what they did as it was the under handed way they did it. There were around 600 that joined Seniorocity immediately and they were not ready for us. They have had terriblec service issues but we are willing to work with them to improve the site.
That is how important this has become to us.
Hi Tech Crunch,
I tried to add this to my posted items in Facebook and it thinks the headline is http://www.techcrunch.com. Also you still have copyright 2007 on your footer (pet peeve) … FYI
I also followed the link from Eon’s over to read this and I am also disheartened by how anyone over 50 is seen by the writers. I am not technically challenged and have always prided myself on being on top of things. I also do not used Depends or consider myself to be a Dino! What a crude way to see our generation! You would never think of using a racist remark but you don’t hesitate to use an ageist remark! Your Mother’s would be so ashamed of you!
Eon’s is a community of active people who don’t spend all of their time reading the obituaries. We do the same things that younger people do on myspace and facebook, we make friends, join groups and write blogs just like they do. The other night my son who is 23 asked me what I did on the computer all of the time, he thought I was playing games! I took him to my page and showed it to him. He was impressed he like you thought I was so old and decrepit that I would be able to figure out how to “pimp up” my profile and he thought it was fantastic that I had actually reached out and made friends my own age over the internet and thought the idea of a social network for the older group was great.
Please before you label us think of what you want to be when you are 50!