Something Old, Something Borrowed, Something New
In a recent New York Times article about new social networking site ParentsConnect, started by Nickelodeon, the site was surprisingly not compared to MySpace. It seems like every new social networking site (apparently the newest Internet buzzword. Remember community, portals, content, etc.?) is compared to the giant. Nor was it compared to its more obvious rivals, iVillage (a Catalyst client) or BabyCenter. The site was simply described in the article as “a social networking Web site that joined the online parenting world late in August with dozens of message boards filled with debates on topics like pregnancy chic and anorexia, and plans for user-generated video, including video blogs.�
iVillage and BabyCenter both have message boards – actually quite a few more than dozens, more like thousands. Granted ParentsConnect is still in beta and was just launched in August so there is still time for them to catch up to the others in terms of number of boards and members. But, do we really need another parenting site? And what makes this one different?
Well, the most obvious difference is that ParentsConnect does NOT have articles or expert advice. Its focus is to connect parents with one another for advice, much like BabyCenter and iVillage’s message boards. Blogs and sharing personal information is a big part of the site. Members can search for other members in their age group, with similar interest or children the same age. It’s sort of like online dating for moms. Additionally, there is a local component incorporated into the site through Nickelodeon’s other parenting site, Go City Kids. But you can access Go City Kids without ParentsConnect, if the local aspect is most interesting to you.
The site design and layout is very user friendly, even with the few bugs I found. Although I couldn’t figure out how to have my photo appear in my post like other members. They have “host parents� moderating the boards, much like CLs (community leaders) moderate iVillage boards, although these hosts have blogs so can read more about them—if you want. Debates and discussions are highlighted around the site to draw you into them. And featured members and “hosts� are also highlighted to draw you into getting to know them.
It will be interesting to see how this site fares against the others. As an expecting mom, I’m quite enjoying the iVillage boards and didn’t find anything new or unique on ParentsConnect. But, who knows? Since I’m not a new mom yet, I’m not sure which site will prove to most valuable as my baby grows.
