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Ask HN: Social web features for an elderly/mature audience

4 pointsmseebach7 comments

Hi,

I'm talking to a friend about starting a website/community based around crossword puzzles (he's a professional CW designer, I'm the techie).

The market is all but untapped in our niche-locale, and we're pretty certain we can go a long way with a pretty simple web 1.0 site, but to really take off, we'd need to incorporate some features that will prompt our users to stay online (and particularly, not print out the puzzle and solve it on paper) and to come back frequently.

Common wisdom says that those are social features, but what kind of social features lend themselves well to such an application and audience (which are a bit older than the usual web 2.0)?

Are there any websites that has had success in connecting a more mature audience than we're usually targeting here?

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As an aside - will you be using the Across Lite plugin from Litsoft?

I suppose it'd be nice if you let users collaborate on a puzzle - I know Puzzler's Cave doesn't have this feature, and it would be nice to do a crossword with a friend or a relative. I like the way the UNO Facebook app has been implemented (loud and boorish though it may appear)..

A discussion board (personally not a fan of it on the Cave, though), and a real-time chat widget? User profiles showing their playing stats?

Thanks for the input!

> will you be using the Across Lite plugin from Litsoft?

No, crosswords here have a different layout. We already have a very nice JS widget that allows for smooth online solving.

> let users collaborate on a puzzle

That's a nice idea. Traditionally, CW solving is a solitary activity, but it's not exactly a deal-breaker to try to change that.

> I like the way the UNO Facebook app has been implemented

I'll check it out.

> A discussion board (personally not a fan of it on the Cave, though)

I'm a bit sceptic when it comes to that. The majority of the target audience isn't socially wired up for mass-interacting with anonymous peers -- and the utter silence on the Cave forums seems to confirm that.

> a real-time chat widget? User profiles showing their playing stats?

Yeah, we're was considering that. Seems to be a successful feature on other online games sites.

> Traditionally, CW solving is a solitary activity..

True, a lot of people relish the feeling of having cracked a particularly tough puzzle by themselves. I know I do.

But I also remember having loads of fun using write to collaborate on really hard cryptic crossies during some really boring classes, and then explaining (or listening to) the thought process behind a clue.

Granted, I wouldn't fall under the 'elderly' category though!

Instead of a social networking aspect, how about an online hits option? I'm not a die hard CW person so I don't know how popular it would be, but it could theoretically keep people online.

> an online hits option?

You mean hints? Yeah, that's on the list, if for no other reason that it's potentially useful. I'm thinking to combine it with a points system, where you earn points relative to the difficulty of the puzzle, and you might have to give up points or something to get a hint.

Haha, yes. I mean, you can add a system that punches people too, but I think hints are better.

I guess points leads to score board leads to competition...?

Thats a bit of social stuff.

You mean like www.clutu.com or something different?

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