NEW ZEALAND: Adult Social Network Launch Offers $1 Million Prize

LOWER HUTT, New Zealand (iYomu), August 12, 2007: A New Zealand-based social network, iYomu, is launching globally today with a US$1 Million challenge. iYomu is branding itself as a "social networking website for grown-ups" and the site is restricted to those over 18 years old. The name of the site, iYomu, stands for "I, You, Me and Us". Its aim is to provide a social networking space for the older generation, who may be turned off by teen hang outs like MySpace and Facebook. To celebrate its global launch, iYomu.com has announced a competition where its online community will choose one member to receive US$1 million in the iYomu.com Challenge. What is iYomu? I met the iYomu founders recently in Lower Hutt, New Zealand - my home city. It's not often I meet a kiwi web startup going after a global market, so this was a pleasant surprise. iYomu is specifically targeting an adult audience, because their research indicated that there were few social networking sites specifically targeting a "mature" audience. iYomu founder David Wolf-Rooney and director Frances Valintine told me that successful social networks like MySpace, Facebook and Bebo did little for adults - apart from self-confessed geeks like me obviously. Valentine said that "there are lots of benefits for grown-ups in social networking, such as staying in touch with family and friends around the world, storing and sharing important documents and photos, or finding advice". Initial online communities that have been created on iYomu.com include communities about the lives of working mums, property investment, golf courses and book clubs. The company says this is a change from the socialising or entertainment categories usually found in social networks for younger audiences. iYomu is free and features one gigabyte of storage for photos and documents, search tools, a personal homepage, email account, personality test and other "easy to use tools" aimed at older internet users. People can also purchase additional storage space for their iYomu vault - and I discovered in my meeting with the founders that this is the primary business model. Also the founders confirmed that iYomu will be a global product, with the US being a major target market. One interesting feature that iYomu has is a Flash-based personality test, called iYDNA. It uses a slick slide bar concept, making it easy to select a personality type - which you can then use to find other people who have the same interests as you. By Richard MacManus