Despite its reputation as the most natural thing in the world, caring for a new baby is described by many 1st-time moms as the greatest challenge they’ve ever encountered. Deprived of sleep, coming to terms with fundamental changes of lifestyle and priorities, faced every day with a new questions, new uncertainties, and new decisions to be made, it’s no wonder that new moms seek out advice and support and have a deep need to share their feelings and experiences. So it’s also not surprising that, according to Nielsen’s report The Global Online Media Landscape released April 22 (d0wnload here), new moms have a high propensity to visit social networking sites compared to the broader 18+ female population and average online consumer. Experienced moms also participate more in social media than these other groups. (I think these are US data but I couldn’t find a definitive reference.)
Here are a few key findings (indexes vs. average online consumer):
- Visited social networking site: Female 18+ (119), Experienced Mom (122), New Mom (286)
- Publish/Own a Blog: Female 18+ (109), Experienced Mom (123), New Mom (270)
- Visited both blogging site and social networking site: Female 18+ (98), Experienced Mom (110), New Mom (262)
- Mothers aged 25-35 with at least one child at home are 85% more likely to spend time on Facebook compared to the average online consumer
So if you’re a brand seeking to build strong relationships with new moms, it looks like social media is something you should be thinking about.
In addition to these specific findings about moms, the Nielsen study has a wealth of useful data on the developing of digital and social media, how it’s being used and by whom. Among other things, it confirms that usage of video and social media are the fastest growing digital categories.
4 Comments
May 3, 2009 at 1:14 pm
Quick note: The download-links seems to be broken.
May 3, 2009 at 6:59 pm
Thanks for letting me know. It seems to be working now.
May 3, 2009 at 8:23 pm
Steve, thank you for sharing this. I can think of at least one more reason why social media is so popular with new moms. The truth is that recent moms are very lonely. They stay away from work – the place of their recognition and contact with colleagues, their leisure time like going to the cinema or for a drink with friends has disappeared completely. Even going for a stroll with another mom can become a challenge – one baby is awake and ready to go out, the other one has just fallen asleep, etc. So, recent moms are pretty much caught within their four walls. Social media in this situation is perfect, well as the name suggests, to socialize. Lucky that we’ve got this opportunity now.
/www.mutterinstinkt.net
May 4, 2009 at 5:09 am
Thanks Inga. Your insightful comment reminds me of something I experienced once visiting a new mom. She had her laptop set up on the sofa in the living room and constantly connected to the internet. So whenever she had a moment free from the baby, should could immediately get online and connect. A life saver.