Feature
Ahh…to be a mom in today’s world of Internet dominance. To have big networks clamoring for your attention, night and day, anxiously waiting to tell you celebrities’ views on childrearing, must satisfy every mother’s daily needs. If only the 'net actually changed the diapers. But not for lack of trying. Both Warner Bros. and Lifetime Networks have announced plans to launch and re-launch site with a “topical online community for mothers, which will provide information and news nuggets.” Both initiatives are aimed at iVillage.com, the current leader in all things women, owned by NBC Universal. Warner Bros. hopes MomLogic.com will help successfully integrate Internet ventures with their television presence, much like their recent TMZ initiative has done. Lifetime, on the other hand is using “women’s-aimed content licensed from partners such as Hearst, About and Glam Media” to help them reach out to droves of beloved woman. These partnerships will help to “create the Lifetime Network, a similar collection of niche female-oriented sites covering topics ranging from relationships to home, which officials say double Lifetime’s existing reach on the Web.” Not only does Lifetime have an extensive list of partners, it intends to partner with RealArcade in hopes of catering to women gamers in a site called Lifetime Games Club. With sites focusing on all kinds of working women, from mothers to business executives, you can’t fault Warner Bros. and Lifetime for reaching out, even if they only want to secure their consumer dollars. Yet, I can’t help but feel like it’s all been done before, probably because it has. Perfecting an old idea is one thing, but recreating one just for the sake of recreating is just boring. Women deserve more than celebrity gossip and fashion advice. Women are online more and rely on Internet for news, blogging, among other things. I’d love to see a site that taps into the more citizen journalism side of things and offers less “good housekeeping” and more “off the bus” reporting. Women, even those that are moms, are active, both politically and socially, and should find a site that offers more.
