The move by AARP into online social networking that I wrote about last October is complete. The site’s Community section is live, and AARP officials at the What’s Next Boomer Business Summit this week in Washington, D.C. say it’s off to a good start. Since I first wrote about this move by AARP, the competitive threat from Eons has eased off, with traffic there falling back sharply. AARP still seems game to make a go of it. Conference-goers at a workshop on social networking seemed generally befuddled about the topic, although a fair number raised their hands when a panelist asked how many are on Facebook (perhaps a sign that Facebook isn’t long for this world?).

The top three topics discussed at What’s Next this year: caregiving, social networking and financing longevity. Author Gail Sheehy gave a preview of the book she is researching on caregiving, which promises to change the national conversation on this topic. Sheehy spoke at length–and will be writing–about her own experience as caregiver for her husband, legendary magazine editor Clay Felker. The narrative-style book she plans to write will be a breakthrough compared with most of the dry stuff available now on caregiving.

What’s Next is a pre-conference for the gigantic Aging in America conference staged by the American Society on Aging and the National Council on Aging. I’m at that event this week and will have lots of posts–including video on this site and over at RetirementRevised over the next couple of weeks.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 27th, 2008 at 10:35 pm and is filed under Aging, Caregiving, Social Networking, What's Next Summit. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.