SAN FRANCISCO, CA - May 9, 2000 - eGroups, Inc., (http://www.egroups.com), the most widely used email group communications platform, today announced it has adopted Netscape’s Open Directory Project (ODP) system to classify its directory of 600,000 email groups. The new system eases member access to email groups that match their specific interests. eGroups will also leverage the ODP to target its email and web-based advertisements tied to member and group interests.

The new eGroups directory, available at www.egroups.com, maps to the ODP so members can easily find information on email groups and join groups based on their interests. Now, eGroups’ members will have better access to email groups that match their interests when they do key word searches or navigate the eGroups directory. People searching the Web for specific topics will also gain better access to eGroups’ member-generated content.

Netscape’s ODP is the largest human-edited directory on the Internet. It harnesses contributions from 24,000 global editors who continuously improve the usability and comprehensiveness of the universal directory structure. The ODP organizes 1.7 million of the Web’s best sites into 250,000 categories.

Each day, eGroups’ members create and self-classify their new email groups using the ODP directory structure. The eGroups taxonomy team reviews all classifications to maintain high quality and ensure that groups are in their appropriate categories.

"Netscape's Open Directory Project is dedicated to the creation of the most comprehensive directory of the web," said Rick Skrenta co-founder of the ODP. “We're very pleased that eGroups has elected to use the ODP structure and sites within their service, and believe that their members will benefit greatly from our working together with better, easier ways to find email groups that match their specific interests."

The adoption of the ODP also creates more opportunities for advertisers and direct marketers to target eGroups’ members with very specific interests.

"The ODP enables an increase in the depth of categorization of eGroups’ 14 million active members, enabling direct marketers and advertisers to more effectively reach members in their email inbox based on self-selected interests." said Michael Klein, Chief Executive Officer of eGroups. "Additionally, the ODP enhances our member experience by providing access to a comprehensive email group taxonomy that yields potentially more relevant search results."

A variety of industry-leading search engines including AOL Search, Netscape Search, Lycos, AltaVista, Google, HotBot, and InfoSpace leverage the ODP system to enable Internet users to search the Web for relevant content. Now, ODP-compliant search engines can source the eGroups email groups directory to access relevant email groups based on interest matching.

About eGroups, Inc.

eGroups, Inc. is the most widely used group communications platform on the Internet. The eGroups service enables members to easily create, join, and manage email group focused on personal and business interests. Complementing the core service is a set of integrated web-based group communication features such as group calendar, file sharing, polling and email archives. The Company serves more than 14 million members and hosts 600,000 active email groups exchanging 2 billion emails per month. The eGroups Web site was ranked #15 among Web Services companies by Media Metrix in March 2000. By aggregating members who are segmented into interest-based groups, eGroups offers advertisers and direct marketers a broad audience as well as a range of highly targeted advertising opportunities. In addition, the Company has 2.5 million subscriptions from its members for its permission-based direct marketing programs. eGroups is based in San Francisco and Redwood City, California. For more information, please visit http://www.egroups.com