Mention
AARP and most people think of Social Security, Medicare and senior discounts.
Now the group is getting into the dating business.
The organization
has launched an online dating channel, and an online dating site for the senior singles.
“AARP wanted to get into the game because one, we know isolation
is a very big issue for our members as they age,” said Nataki Edwards, Vice
President of Digital Strategies and Operations at AARP. Edwards said a quarter
of the group’s 37 million members are single and many have been asking the
organization to help them link up with others.
“It’s not necessarily about getting married,” Edwards told ABC
News. “It’s about the companionship and having fun things to do with someone
else.”
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AARP’s new venture
is not the first dating site geared toward this age group. It’ll be competing
with Zoosk and Tagged, which bills itself as the premier senior online dating
service. AARP is partnering with boomerscupid.com
whose philosophy is to get people out on dates early on to see if they hit it
off, rather than spending a lot of time getting to know each other online, only
to find there’s no chemistry when they meet in person. Edwards calls it “dating
like they used to date.”
That appeals to Shelley Kilburn, who describes herself as a
“54-year-old SWF (single white female).” Kilburn said she likes the idea of
meeting face-to face, telling ABC News, “When you talk to someone in person you
get a better image or feeling, you have that ability to use a (woman’s
intuition), that sixth sense.”
Kilburn, a Southern California
resident and a former news colleague of this reporter, has been divorced for
five years. She hasn’t tried online dating yet, but says she might gravitate to
an AARP site because to her the group has a trustworthy “history and
reputation, (so) I would be comfortable.”
Carol Siflinger agrees, writing in response to a Facebook
question about the new site, “It is a great idea! I would hope singles going to
this site would be of a better caliber than ‘meat market’ sites!”
For those 50 plus group, trying to date again can be daunting.
“It’s not so easy for people because many of them haven’t dated
for 30 years or more”, said relationship expert Pepper Schwartz, who’s written
extensively on sexuality. Schwartz, who is also AARP’s Love and Relationship
Ambassador, says online dating can be especially unnerving. “Honestly, I think
most of them go kicking and screaming. They wouldn’t do this if there was
another option.”
Schwartz, who is 67, says she met her fiancé online. “It’s not
easy: you have to work at it. You have to be resilient.” Of course, Schwartz
adds, that’s not necessarily age-related. “Who ever found dating easy,” she
says, “even when they were younger?”
Looking for a companion online worked wonderfully for Becky
Hedlund Lemaire, of Breaux Bridge ,
La.
“Always meet in public”, says Lemaire, “Don’t give out personal
information and make sure someone knows where you are going to meet.”
AARP has tips too for the more mature dater — the group suggests
you don’t spend the first date talking only about your children or
grandchildren, or your aches and pains. The organization says its new online
dating channel will help with dating advice.
Those popular senior discounts will come into play too. AARP is
offering a seven-day free trial, then half off the dating service price for its
members.
AARP’s Edwards said she won’t be using the new service because
“I am married myself.” However, she laughs, “I have sent it to every single
friend that I have who is looking.”
