Boomers troll Net on sites of their own

Networking sites help people meet for fun, friendship, more

Associated Press

Rose Campbell was widowed after 26 years of marriage. John Souza's wife died after 44 years and five children together.

Both Campbell and Souza were looking for friendship and fun, not a second chance at love, when they bumped into each other online last October on a social network called Eons.

Soon they were chatting regularly. "There was a little flirtin' and a little serious conversation," said Souza, 70, who lives in Ocklawaha, Fla., across from the cemetery where his wife is buried.

The online encounters blossomed into a real-life meet about a month later. "It was a little awkward. I thought he didn't like me. He thought I didn't like him," said Campbell, 57, a retired schoolteacher and mother of two grown children in Ormond Beach, Fla.

"Then we just clicked," she said. Their wedding is planned for Sept. 6.

Eons is one of at least two dozen social networks aimed squarely at Baby Boomers, the population bubble born between 1946 and 1964 that has defied traditional perceptions of aging and retirement. Many boomers jumped into the Internet mashup to keep track of their kids on Facebook or MySpace, then moved on to their own networks in search of more common ground.

They're blogging about the virtues of oatmeal and the beauty of aging, posting video clips from their favorite old movies, and sharing ideas and support on grieving the death of a spouse, caring for a sick parent or sex after 50.

Besides Eons, other sites include BOOMj, BoomSpeak and BoomerGirl, along with Eldr, Secondprime and Growingbolder. "Being 50 and over we all grew up around the same things. The same TV shows, the same history. When I say Roy Rogers, they know who I'm talking about," said 61-year-old Didi Moe of Melbourne, Fla., who started Central Florida Singles, the discussion group on Eons where Campbell and Souza met.

The Boston-based Eons was founded by Internet pioneer Jeffrey C. Taylor in 2006, the year after he left his job-listings startup, Monster.

"People kind of laughed at me when I said I was launching a boomer Web site," said Taylor, 47.

Some of the boomer networking sites are loaded with staff content and expertise, or have a particular focus such as social change. Others, Eons included, are more user-driven, with hundreds of discussion groups, beginner widgets and age-specific applications like Eons' "LifePath," a way to plot a timeline of important personal events and future aspirations.