UK regulatory agency Ofcom released a report today that sheds more light on a market niche that is consistently ignored by Silicon Valley: The over-50 crowd. The report states, *"'Silver surfers' also account for an increasing amount of internet use with nearly 30 percent of total time spent on the internet accounted for by over-50s ..." *
The report goes on to offer more detail and context (.pdf), but the point of the information is clear. A market opportunity is being ignored, forcing these so-called silver surfers to suffer the indignity of wallowing in the digital mud with unpolished youngsters on MySpace and Facebook. Although some reports show that older users are on the rise on Facebook, that might change if those users ever find out that, according to another report, the site's founder Mark Zuckerberg feels, *"Young people are just smarter." *
One standout social network directed at older users is called Eons, created by Monster.com founder Jeff Taylor. Unfortunately, the execution feels distinctly Web 1.0, a telling underestimation of the Web savvy silver surfers. Personally, some of my most engaging email exchanges have been with my own grandmother, a distinctly analog kind of gal. If Silicon Valley can take off its youth-centric-goggles for a half a second, all those VCs looking for a place to sink their cash might realize the answer is right in front of them. For a look into the world of the silver surfers, check out 80 year-old Peter Oakley (pictured above), aka Geriatric1927, one of the biggest stars on YouTube.
