Gransnet launches new local directory service
Gransnet, the UK’s largest social network for older people, has launched a new local directory service.
Gransnet Local will be run by people aged 50-plus, offering listings of activities and events. The network will act as a directory of services, from health centres to plumbers, and will offer forums for discussion of local issues as well as the possibility of meeting up.
The development of Gransnet Local comes following a social investment fund from the Nominet Trust. With that investment, the network has been able to recruit local editors (20 so far, with more to roll out over the coming months,).
In an article for the Telegraph, Gransnet editor Gereldine Bedell said: “The heart of a social networking site is its community - is people talking to each other. We set out two years ago hoping to provide a platform for a group of people who felt somewhat disenfranchised.”
“There’s a way to go yet with the local sites: more editors to recruit, listings to upload, organisations to publicise themselves, businesses to start advertising. It’s ambitious, but we know that social networking serves a real need for older people. And the numbers are on our side. Make way for an army of iPad-wielding grans.”