Finerday, an older folks social network, set to launch next week

It's certainly not a foregone conclusion, as there are several similar 'Silver Surfer' sites that have come and gone or are just hanging-on with minimal traffic. However, from the pre-release information provided on their site it does look like the Finerday offering is better thought through than most - from the whole 'family' positioning to the custom-designed hardware they have planned.

Victor Keegan mentioned Finerday's launch in his opinion column in TechnologyGuardian yesterday (Social networks are growing in niches), and commented "why on earth was something so blindingly obvious not developed before?" Well, as John's comment indicates, it was, just not successfully so.

Keegan does of course note that there are other social networks focused on older people including Sagazone, but he says "they lack several factors that Finerday hopes will be killer apps: old people don't just want to talk to older people, they want to be in touch with their extended families wherever they are in the world: they want everything to be simple and they want an easy, affordable computer."

He accepts that Finerday's success is "a big if" but he lists several elements that he think make it different and better:

* simple, colourful interface

* subdivision of 'fun' section into games, television and radio

* big buttons to press and play

* option to send a gift (to family and friends?), offering customised suggestions, "giving the site a potentially lucrative revenue stream".

* its plan to offer a package including a simple installation by an Internet Service Provider and one of the new cheaper computers, an Acer, "customised for older people with a larger screen, simple buttons and a price as near £200 as they can get it."

He cites another new site targeting a similar group of people and concludes that "the computer world has suddenly realised that, just as there are a billion poorer people in the world wanting to buy cheap, customised computers, so there is a vast, and fast-growing market of older people wanting the same."

I disagree with the "suddenly" but it's an interesting move by Age Concern. I just wonder if it's too late in terms of the growth of social networks, however targeted its niche.

Let’s hope it’s more successful than GenerationXperience that barely had any traffic and now seems to have quietly closed-down.

http://www.coastdigital.co.uk/whats-new/blog/wordpress

http://generationxperience.wordpress.com/