Parenting Portals Thrive with Web 2.0

friday 16 march, 2007

As with other popular parenting sites like BabyCenter and About.com Parenting & Family, the new site will rely on user participation for much of its content.

Emily Smith of Disney noted how important user-generated content has become to such sites, saying that "because the community will ultimately decide whether content is relevant, we believe the site will remain on the leading edge in terms of helping parents with information and advice."

The Internet is an obvious choice for reaching parents, since a near-total 98% of them are online, according to a Nickelodeon study released in January 2007.

Parenting sites are not the only way to reach mothers, since they are defined by much more than just motherhood, and their online activities extend well beyond parenting-related tasks.

For example, while a third of women ages 25-54 with children younger than 18 visited family-oriented sites in March 2006, an even greater percentage visited sites in the community, auction, games and sports categories, according to comScore Media Metrix.

eMarketer senior analyst Debra Aho Williamson notes that marketing to parents, especially in a community, holds challenges as well as opportunities.

"There is a fine line between marketers being helpful and being intrusive," says Ms. Williamson. "When using parenting sites centered on communities, the challenge is to become part of the resulting dialogue between mothers."

Source: eMarketer