• July 15, 2008

Baby Center has launched a social network that lets parents create profiles, share photos and videos, blog and create private groups, among other thingss.

The new offering is built on Baby Center's August 2007 acquisition of social networking site Maya's Mom. Within the new social network, brands will be able to sponsor topics or groups to gather consumer information to help develop product and marketing strategies.

More than 250 marketers already advertise on Baby Center, owned by Johnson & Johnson. U.S. traffic to the site was down 18% in June to 3.5 million from 4.3 million a year ago, according to COM Score.

In terms of engagement, the company says more than 300,000 people respond to Baby Center polls each month, and 72% of visitors return within a week.

--Mark Walsh