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Nov. 22, 2010

More than One-Third of People Online Are Boomers

Millions of Baby Boomers Online Have Wide Ranging Needs, Drawing the
Increased Attention of Marketers and Web Developers

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By Joshua Norman

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Play CBS Video
Video Boomers Redefine
Retirement

The baby boomers are not settling quietly. Correspondent Rita Braver
explores the world of many senior citizens who are finding fulfilling second
careers after retirement.

Now that one out of three people online are Baby Boomers, marketers and
developers are starting to focus more attention on them.
(CBS)

(CBS)  A series of reports by CBS News and
USA
TODAY explores the aging of an iconic generation and the impact on the
nation.

Do you remember a little North Carolina town named Mayberry?
Can you describe the revolution that was Kodachrome? Were you a little freaked
out when Cyclamate was banned?

If you answered yes for any of those
questions, you probably also remember exactly where you were when President John
F. Kennedy was shot, and you are suddenly feeling a little nostalgic. The good
news is, there are many millions of Americans eager to share that experience
online, and plenty of websites to help you reminisce.

"I get a lot of
traffic from people who are looking for items from the past," said Ron
Enderland, developer and owner of IrememberJFK.com, who claims to get as
many as 21,000 unique monthly visitors to his relatively simple three-year-old
Baby Boomer nostalgia site. He decided to create the site because he "just woke
up in the middle of the night and said, 'You know, I've got all these great
memories from when I was a kid. I bet there's a whole generation out there
interested.'"

Not only are Baby Boomers the
fastest growing group of social media users, they are also taking up an
ever-increasing share of overall Internet usage, leading marketers and web
developers like Enderland to sit up and take account of them in the digital age.

Despite Census estimates that Boomers make up about 25 percent of the
overall population, Boomers now make up at least 36 percent of all Internet
users, according to a 2008 Pew
Internet and American Life Project report. In 2000, they made up just one in
four Internet users. Now, as many as 70 percent of the generation's 76 million
or so members go online at least once in a while, Pew reports.

Like the
rush to social media, Boomers' increased Internet usage is driven as much by
technological developments as it is by practical needs. The Pew Project found
that more than 65 percent of all Boomer Internet users had broadband in their
homes in 2008, up from less than 5 percent in 2000. It is easier than ever to
get prescription drug info, look at new photos of your grandkids and check the
health of your IRA, so long as you're online.

Baby Boomers' needs are
varied, but in general they are interested in the same things that most other
Internet users are; They're primarily interested in checking their email and
using search engines to research things, but getting health information and the
latest news are also dominant online activities, Pew reports.

"We
recognize that our members are really interested in lots of different things,"
said Nataki Clarke, vice president of AARP's Digital Strategy and Operations. "We
provide information tools as well as entertainment for them. Boomers are (also)
very interested in looking and feeling great as they age."
Clarke said AARP
is adjusting to the fact that many Boomers are not retiring at the same rate or
at the same age as previous generations.

"They're still working and
active and vibrant," Clarke said. "They're retiring much later. They're telling
us they can't retire. It's one of the reasons our job search engine is so
popular. It's both the economy and a general characteristic of the generation."

Boomers' desire to stay active and vibrant has also given rise to a
number of successful Internet ventures that offer brain training, so to speak.
Since its 2007 launch, more than 2 million unique visitors have played games on
Winster, an online social gaming site geared toward those middle-aged or older,
reports the
Los Angeles Times.

Other sites are more direct in their approach,
offering cognitive training for Boomers who want to put off the effects of old
age for as long as possible after watching their parents suffer from the likes
of Alzheimer's and dementia. The idea behind these sites is that you can train
your brain to be fit in similar ways that you train your body to be fit, said
Bob Bicknell, spokesperson for CogniFit, an online cognitive training
company.

"CogniFit is a scientifically validated cognitive training
program, not a game," Bicknell said. " CogniFit measures and trains fourteen
different skill areas and offers a comprehensive training for consumers looking
for overall fitness. CogniFit’s program is designed to continually adjust to the
training level that is optimal for each user, challenging (them), but no so
difficult that the user abandons their training."

The number of
potential customers for CogniFit and other similar programs will only grow in
the coming years, so that even if a few of its older users get frustrated and
log off, there are millions of Boomers who countless different interests online
who may want to take their place.

"Some of our members are sending kids
off to college and some are just having kids," said Clarke, AARP's chief digital
strategist. "It's really a mixed bag. The outlook is so different than it was
for earlier generations."

USA
TODAY: Long-term care insurance worries Baby Boomers
USA
TODAY: Five vacations to make you feel younger
USA
TODAY: An 'Iconic' Generation

© MMX, CBS Interactive, Inc. All
Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or
redistributed.

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