Feeling A Bit Cranky?

I recently stumbled upon a cranky age-relevant search engine and Web site, targeting baby boomers and seniors. Cranky.com was designed for the 50-plus crowd with the emphasis on simplicity, attempting to narrow search results to a relevant but short list. If you're not in that growing group you will quickly find yourself a persona non grata when you try to sign up. Access will be denied and you might find yourself feeling a bit cranky.

Cranky.com was started by Eons the media company launched by Jeff Taylor, founder and former chairman of Monster.com. Cranky users can develop on-line profiles, create blogs, post life dreams and build a life map with photos and text much like younger users do on My.Space. The site even contains an obits section and allows users to change the type size of each page for easier viewing with one click. How's that for relevance?

"Cranky.com aims to make Web searching easier for older net-surfers who -- unlike the younger people who grew up on the Web -- are unsure of how to construct Boolean searches and complex narrowing techniques, Taylor explained." Tech News World

I am convinced that Cranky.com has huge potential for becoming the status quo for early adopters. This rapidly growing category of web surfers will continue to demand more ease-of-use on line along with greater personal connection. The new and improved breed of targeted search engines have the right pop to keep interest and participation high. I anticipate a music feature being included in future updates. Don't underestimate the power that music has with boomers. It's hard to imagine that many of us mature web savvy peeps are only a few short years away from entering the cranky zone ourselves. Yikes!

"A lot of people in the Baby Boomer market have kids who are using search engines and social networking sites so it's not like there isn't awareness of the Web," adding that there are approximately 44 million people over the age of 50 who use the Internet frequently." Jeff Taylor

Read Seth Godin post: Marketing To Seniors    read more 

 

Comments

[Sindy]

That's a well designed site. It was only a matter of time that a site like this was out there catering to a specific demographic! Kudos to the founder! The URI cracks me up.