What does a social media platform for seniors look like?

Evergreen Club, an online community platform for people above the age of 50 in India, has launched a social media network called Club aimed at seniors to connect with each other. 

A report found that more than 90% of elderly users in India use existing social media platforms to connect with family and friends. 

Tapan Mishra, the founder of Evergreen Club, said Club is designed specifically to create a safe space for seniors. It is also intended to be a space for peer learning, exchange of ideas, and sharing of life highlights for its target audience. 

“With increasing urbanisation and lifestyle changes, I believe we need to create online safe spaces to address the specific needs of a particular group," Mishra told Campaign Asia-Pacific. "This community of seniors has been ever-underserved. In India alone, the number of seniors reaches up to 250 million, of which a considerable number of individuals [around 30%] are tech-enabled if we take the WhatsApp user base as a proxy."

Mishra added that since working with this community since the past half-decade, he has heard seniors complain about businesses either not taking cognizance of the needs of them, or building products without understanding their needs. 

"With Evergreen Club, we have been able to understand the needs of our audience through our official close groups and also through our hosts who conduct various sessions," he said. “Through this, Evergreen Club has observed the users were keen to share learnings from sessions, their artwork, their performances and also engage in exchanging appreciating and motivating others through their next phase of the journey of life,” he adds.

Mishra said that Club is different to existing services because it is a “no-judgment platform” where seniors can feel like they belong, and can generate and consume content that relates to them. 

“If they are on other social networking platforms, there will be content that may not speak to them at all considering the content is largely created by a generation or two younger. That is what we offer as Evergreen Club—a platform where the elderlies can find a sense of purpose through our sessions and our Club," he said.

Unlike larger social media platforms, Evergreen Club has no current plans to monetise the platform and carry advertisements as Mishra said the focus at the moment is to build a community.

“Monetisation will be initiated at a right time. However, when we do monetise, while advertisements are one way to do so, our primary goal will be to keep user experience superior and not let ads affect the experience,” he explained.

The app is currently open to all seniors with ease of accessibility through a website presence as well as an app on iOS and Android. While the offering in its current form and structure is built to scale globally, the brand will first cater to the needs of the Indian market in the current year. 

Mishra said: "We are trying to be as inclusive as possible to this audience. Our primary user base is spread across India but we also have a few users from across the borders."