The Power and Influence of Mommy Blogs

An estimated 34 million mothers go online monthly. They are now among the savviest internet users be it for getting their news, shopping, and making the purchasing decisions for their families or personal blogs. Moms are turning to the web to network with other moms, share stories about parenting, their kids, and life in general via their blogs and twitter. Many of them becoming influential among their peers – other mommies. Brands like Nintendo, Campbell’s, Hallmark, and Frigidaire just to name a few, have been tapping the mommy blogs to reach one of the most important consumers out there – the financial decision making woman we all know and love as mom.

EA has recently tapped into the mommy blog community to promote their new title, EA Active, placing these women on a 30 day weight loss challenge – http://www.hotmomreviews.com/?p=142. That is just an example of one of the many blogs participating. Chevy sponsors the “Mom Squad” – test drive Chevy’s Traverse and enter for a chance to win 1-hour massage session – http://mommymadnessdfw.com/massageenvy_dfw.html. Frigidaire has “Frigidaire Moms” who get to try out their newest line of products and talk about it. There are five teams, each of groups of 10 mommy blogs. Wal-Mart has the Elevenmoms (there’s actually 21 mommy bloggers who are part of this group) who share ideas for saving money, living green, host a YouTube show and much more on behalf of Wal-Mart.

eMarketer recently published studies with notable information and stats for companies trying to reach moms:

1. More than one-half (53%) of the US female Internet population of 79 million actively participated in some type of social media at least weekly. Of the female social media participants, 75% took part in social networking and 55% used blogs.

2. A survey by Razorfish and CafeMom found that Websites, referrals from friends and family, and information from search engines were the most common sources online moms used to make a purchasing decision. They were less likely to use TV, magazines, newspapers or radio to make their purchasing decisions.

3. Women are so enthusiastic about reading and writing blogs, they are stealing time from other media to spend more in the blogosphere and on social network sites.

Next month the mommy’s are off to the Blogher Convention in Chicago, which has been sold out for the four months now. They not only see this as a learning workshop, but also as an opportunity to meet up with their ILF (internet life friends). As of May 16, 2009, more than 51,000 members have listed over 22,000 blogs by women, organized by topic, and that number is expected to continue rising.

Firemint’s Real Racing Raises the Bar for iPhone Racing Games

Firemint's Real RacingLast week, Firemint gave media attending the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco a taste of what’s to come in their upcoming game, Firemint Real Racing.

Here’s what some of those lucky enough to get their hands on the game had to say:

“So far, Firemint’s driver is looking rock solid — the cockpit view is as cool as the other side of the pillow.”
Levi Buchanan, IGN

“Today I got to see an early version of the game, a tilt-to-steer sim-style racing title. Without explanation, I was able to jump in and take a hatchback around one of the first tracks, a city circuit. It was totally natural to get started, and I was immediately able to apply basic racing strategy and get into it. And you know, the steering control was pretty tight. I was impressed. This is fun.”
Dale North, Destructoid

“From what I have played I can’t see how Real Racing won’t get 5 stars. Real Racing is amazing, and I can’t wait for it to come out. In the meantime I’m playing Firemint’s other title Flight Control.”
Ignacio, iPhone Games Network

“Let us say this right off the bat: this superlative racer is going to set some new benchmarks for the genre when it comes out later in April.”
Steve, Slide to Play