Back when I was a kid, stay-at-home moms watched soap operas. They became wrapped up in the stories, became fans of the characters, and talked about what was happening in these other worlds with their friends. I even remember in the movie, “Mr. Mom,” that Michael Keaton’s character was sucked into this alternate reality as a means of escape when the job of full-time parenting, house cleaning, cooking, etc. became too much to handle. For all I know, there are still some moms who watch soap operas during the day, but I never hear any of my friends talking about them. It seems to me that today, Facebook is the new soap opera.
Moms who spend the day picking up toys, searching for the missing sock, feeding the kids, running errands, taxiing kids from activity to activity, and throwing something together for dinner still manage to find time for social networking. Especially on Facebook. I watch some of my friends on Facebook and am amazed at how many times a day they manage to squeeze in status updates, quick games of whatever farming, animal or jewel collecting challenges are at the top of the charts at the moment, and comments on other people’s posts. Especially when their own status updates also mention how many things they’re juggling between the kids, the house, the husband, etc. throughout the day.
While not all women are moms, it’s important to note that between 2009 and 2010, women on Facebook increased from 23.4 million users to 56 million (according to this report from iStrategyLabs). That’s a 139% increase! And MarketingVox wrote a piece back in 2009 on “Power Moms” claiming that “Power Moms – women between the ages of 25 and 54 with at least one child and who participate regularly in online activities – represent 19.2% of the active internet population in the US.” They also quoted Nielson’s report saying that “Newbie Moms” (who are more recent mothers between the ages of 25-34 who have one or two children at home) are 85% more likely to visit Facebook than the average internet user.
And those games on Facebook? You know, Farmville, Bejeweled, Happy Aquarium…and all those other (annoying) games that people play and clog up your feeds… Well, apparently the average social gamer is a 43-year-old woman. And 55% of all social gamers in the US are women. According to this report, 11% of those surveyed labeled themselves “homemakers.”
I juggle a family and a business (and try to occasionally clean my house), and I have to admit that I spend more time on Facebook than some of my other mom friends. But my excuse is that half the time it’s work-related! But I can honestly (and even proudly) say that I’ve never played any of the Facebook games.
So today, I don’t know anyone who can tell me what’s going on with All My Children or Days of Our Lives. But if you want to get the attention of a multitude of moms who are talking to all their other mom friends, Facebook is where the story is at these days.
(And if Mr. Mom was on Facebook, I’m sure he’d jump right in to Farmville. His most recent status update: 220, 221…whatever it takes.)
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Good point Jen. I have no idea how stay-at-home moms can balance work, child-rearing, errands, household chores and Facebook all at the same time. I know I have a very hard time multi-tasking and would get nothing done if I was in the same situation. Having said that, I am a very strong advocate of focusing on one task at a time. I feel a sense of accomplishment everytime I check off a task on my to-do list. Facebook is usually not one of them, unless it is work-related of course.