Sustaining online communities involving seniors

Many online communities involving seniors have come into existence, yet not all of these have survived. There are numerous reasons for success and failure in the creation, management and maintenance of these online communities. Through an exploration of two communities, NEAT and GreyPath, numerous factors are uncovered for the successful sustenance of such online communities. Both communities have reached maturity successfully, one continues to enjoy success, the other is on the precipice of continuing to survive or to cease to exist. Two critical success factors discovered were valuing members in peer based interaction through a flat structure, and hybridity.