Web Publishers Cast Eye On Moms' Internet Habits
- by Kate Kaye , May 5, 2004
The study follows a raft of research focused on womens' Internet media habits. A new iVillage study of new moms shows that they're logging on for parenting advice more than twice as often as that group did 10 years ago. A study conducted for The Washington Post Co.'s washingtonpost.com released in March revealed that more than 60 percent of working women, many of whom are mothers, recommend using online ads to reach them.
And last week, Yahoo! and Publicis Groupe's Starcom MediaVest Group issued research that underscores the reemergence of a women's daytime audience on the Web. The Yahoo!/Starcom research indicates that spending time on the Internet has become the leading media choice among women--and is second only to work, sleep, and spending time with family in terms of being a valued activity and resource.
"This group is really a proxy for the whole household," observes Tina Sharkey, AOL's senior vice president of life management and community. "They're multitasking offline, but they're also multitasking online."
According to AOL's national Mother's Day survey, 35 percent of moms who participated use the 'Net mainly to access multiple resources, and 22 percent go online for its at-home convenience. Conducted by Opinion Research Corp. from April 6-12, the opt-in study measured responses to about 30 questions from a national sample of 1,653 women 18 and older with Internet access and children under 18.
Moms are going online for all sorts of household management-related responsibilities, from planning vacations to filing taxes. The AOL study reveals that 75 percent of mothers surveyed plan and research trips via the Web, 71 percent use it to get news and current events, and over 65 percent hit the Web to manage finances and pay bills, conduct product research, and gather health information. The study also found that 63 percent of women surveyed go online for recipes, 55 percent seek out discounts and coupons, 42 percent file their taxes, and 35 percent research home improvement projects.
A study of working women released in March by the washingtonpost.com, and conducted in partnership with Nielsen//NetRatings, resulted in similar findings showing that over 80 percent of participants have done research on the Web before purchasing travel products or services offline, and 87 percent believed product research is made easier online.
"In the '50s, being a mother was a full-time job--but today women have jobs and careers and lives, and it's the balance of all that," comments Carl Fischer, vice president-corporate communications at iVillage Inc. "You have this picture of women with plates spinning," he notes. According to a new iVillage study by Harris Interactive, 58 percent of today's moms are in the workforce, compared to 25 percent during the 1950s. Conducted between March 25 and April 2, the study of more than 1,000 women ages 18 and up who became mothers since 2000 examines parenting trends over the past five decades.
The Internet has also become an invaluable communication and relationship-building medium for mothers, according to the AOL study. Over 95 percent of respondents use email to keep in touch with family and friends, 48 percent exchange photos with loved ones via the Web, and 10 percent use a Web cam.
They're also fostering new relationships online: Nearly 20 percent visit online chat rooms and post to message boards, 25 percent have made new friends online, and 26 percent belong to an online community group. Nearly one-third of online group member moms belong to pregnancy groups, 10 percent join Web weight-loss groups, and 8 percent belong to hometown groups.
"These are not occasional destinations," suggests AOL's Sharkey. "These are habitual destinations."
Associating with Web-based communities can translate into in-person connections and broader sponsorship opportunities, according to iVillage's Fischer, who boasts: "We have women who have flown across the country to meet each other." The site hosts communities through which members organize offline meetings. Often, Fischer says, group members express an interest in obtaining items from the site and its sponsors for use during meetings.
Moms connect with their kids while online, too. The AOL study found that 71 percent of participants use the Web to play games, use email and instant messaging, and help with homework research while their children are nearby or on mommy's lap. Whereas other groups, such as children and teens have singular experiences, adds AOL's Sharkey, mothers are constantly thinking of their kids, husbands, and family members as well as themselves. "This is the one demographic that psychologically is in the 'we/me' state always," she stresses.
