• by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, April 9, 2012

While “parenting” might not be the first thing you think of when you hear “glam,” there’s no question it’s a deeply engaging topic that is especially well-suited for social media, where parents can ask each other questions, seek and dispense advice, vent their frustrations, and, yes, contribute to the exponentially growing volume of pictures and videos of cute kids doing cute stuff, cutely.

With this in mind, Glam Media is launching Tend, a vertical content-based social network for parents. Tend will do for parenting what Glam.com has done for fashion (and sister site Foodie.com for food since its launch in February of this year), serving up a mix of curated content and online discussions from hundreds of top editors, mommy bloggers, and parenting authors, as well as “new voices.”

Jason Rosenthal, Glam Media executive vice president for products, defined the balance thusly: “Many popular parenting sites offer either great content or authentic ways to connect, but Tend captures the complete social energy surrounding parenting.” At launch, Glam says Tend will reach an audience of approximately 22 million consumers per month in the U.S.

Of course, Glam isn’t the only one operating in the social parenting space. Last week Bonnier Corp.’s Parenting Group and Hallmark unveiled a new six-month-long campaign focused on helping parents capture and share the “moments” of family life, with a heavy emphasis on social media. The campaign includes print, digital and social media elements, leveraging blogs, Facebook, Twitter, online video, contests, Pinterest, and mobile apps, among other channels. Parenting.com is also launching “365 Moments Blog,” a new blog featuring the photography and insight of mom blogger Jennifer Johnson, who chronicled a year of her daughter’s life with a daily photo and blog post.

While women might seem like the natural target for parenting-focused social media, men are also ripe for sentimental socializing. Bonnier’s Parenting Group is also touting a survey which finds that dads are eager online sharers, especially when it’s their first foray into dadhood. The survey of around 600 U.S. men, conducted with PR firm Edelman, showed that more than 40% of U.S. dads who use social networks are writing family-related status updates on a daily basis. Meanwhile 56% post family photos a few times a week (if not way, way more often), and 21% post family-related videos.