Litland.com Power Moms Take Charge!

Power Moms Take Charge!

If you haven’t heard yet, you are a powerful force on the Internet! The Nielsen Company (of the famous Nielsen Ratings) has studied you! Or at least a bunch of moms representing you. And they say you “represent 20% of the online population”. Wow, considering there are an estimated 1.8 billion users worldwide, you are quite a force to be reckoned with!

What are Power Moms doing online?

Not surprisingly, they found that women with older kids (over age 12) spent more time on the Internet than women with kids under 12. No duh! It’s a bit easier to sit at the keyboard or laptop when you’re not changing diapers or pulling the rocks out of your toddler’s nose (that he just shoved in while experimenting with size and shape!). And the main use of the Internet was thrift...yup, findings ways to save money or cut costs. The times may be a changing, but a mom’s primary job of efficiency expert stays the same. And it isn’t just stay-at-home moms who are power blogging (estimated at 12,000 and growing by Nielsen), Facebooking and Googling...working moms are using their new mobile phones with all of those apps to maximize their time and money resources too.

Regardless of whether working away from home, or in the home (and yes, stay-at-home-moms definitely have a hard job!), moms are using the Internet for escape, entertainment, managing their life, and exploring the world beyond their living room or iPhone. If you want to check out some of the most common sites being shared, take a gander at Nielsen’s synopsis page 3 http://en-us.nielsen.com/content/dam/nielsen/en_us/documents/pdf/Press%20Releases/2009/May/Where%20The%20Moms%20Are%20Shopping,%20Blogging,%20Networking%20And%20Strategizing%20Online.pdf This page has links to power-mom blogs too.

YOU are a force for change!

Maybe you aren’t a “momfluential” influencing the world with your power-mom ideas, but collectively you are still a force for change. Go beyond swapping coupons and diaper deals. Don’t be afraid to stick your neck out and form an opinion...share your views...challenge and be challenged by other power moms. Let your voice be heard. You’d be surprised how many people of all ages and genders are listening. It is the first step to joining forces and being empowered to act.

Then act. Take action. Are you tired of profanity and smut in television/cable? Let the Networks know, as well as the advertisers funding them. But don’t stop there...get on the FCC for failing to enforce decency laws too! Upset about the sex and violence in children’s books? Speak out to publishers and libraries, and their associations too. Are you a working mom with children home alone after school? Connect with the stay-at-home moms and start a daycare co-op or bartering group!

Concerned with the state of our nation, feeling your religious freedom threatened? Speak out, and share sites with your friends that represent your views so they are informed too.

And join groups. Sign up with credible groups who will alert you regarding these issues that tug at your heart or fuel your ire. Email petitions only take seconds to complete but make an impact. Already email campaigns have successfully stopped profane advertising, prevented the Motion Picture Association from rating movies as PG simply because they mention God, and forced the media to publish retractions of many erroneous statements. So never underestimate the impact you can have. Power Mom...take charge!

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Citation:

Hogue, Jessica, Benezra, Karen. (2009) The Digital Lives of Power Moms. Nielsen Company. May 27, 2009. Available at http://en-us.nielsen.com/content/dam/nielsen/en_us/documents/pdf/Webinars/The%20Digital%20Lives%20of%20Power%20Moms.pdf