Online community for grandparents

Parenting websites have been around for years, but not until recently have grandparents had full-fledgeds destination of their own. Now there’s Grandparents.com, a dedicated site that uses the power of online community to help today’s grandparents make the most of their relationships with their grandchildren. Launched in early September, Grandparents.com is targeting the more than 78 million grandparents in the United States with innovative ways to expand on the grandparent-grandchild relationship. Included on the site are city-by-city lists of grandchild-friendly activities, travel ideas, age-appropriate gift suggestions, product ratings, blogs, message boards, expert advice, and media galleries for sharing photos and videos. Social networking is in full force, with the ability for members to invite others to the site, and there are also technology tips such as how to podcast a long-distance bedtime story. CEO Jerry Shereshewsky explains: “Today’s grandparents are more tech-savvy and affluent than their predecessors, but they ultimately want the same thing as every group of grandparents before them—to share their experience, knowledge and values with the next generation. Grandparents.com gives them the tools to pass along their legacy in a way that is meaningful and easily relatable to their grandchildren.” Membership is free on the ad-supported site for everyone from “grand-rookies” to more experienced grandparents with older grandkids. Visitors hail not just from the U.S. but from countries as far off as Israel, Australia, India, Turkey and France. Grandparents.com, owned by private investment firms Laser Partners and TWS Partners, is yet another testament to the power of social networking. When a concept is tailored to virtually every segment of society in a unique way, you can be fairly sure it’s here to stay. And focusing on boomers is a sure way to attract advertisers. Other countries and languages, anyone? Spotted by: Bjarke Svendsen