Be careful out there. I often register at Web 2.0 sites as part of my function in life to sketch, discuss, “hot-glue”, mashup, hack, build and think toward a more innovative future.
Most recently in reviewing “Mommy” sites I’ve been posing as a 35 year-old mom (Carmen – likes Cars and Men – get it?) with 4 kids. My oldest son, Ricky, is 16 so he’s taking care of Tabitha, 6, and Billy, 4. My youngest, Jeremy, 3 months, is somewhere around here. He’ll turn up. He usually does.
In looking around some of these sites and they’re disturbing to say the least. The type of information being shared is pretty scary. You often see detailed information about the person and their family, holiday photos of the kids including geo-tags of their house and other content that could be used to identify them. Some of the things parents post makes them look completely clueless or like they are sitting at the computer writing a blog while their kid festers in a dirty diaper. Are parents really this stupid these days? As far as I’m concerned, parents posting too much information aren’t fit to be parents because they put their families at risk at the very worst and at the very best look like they are wasting time on the computer when they could be doing something better. With their kids!
In the backwaters of my online watch, I’ve heard that unemployed guys spend half their time trolling blog comments and the other half trying to pick up middle-aged women on the “Mommy” social networks.
As Carman the 35 year-old mom, I like that my profile is public. It’s good knowing that a lot of guys scour these sites looking for hot single (and not so single) moms to pick up on. I posted my pics from before I had my 4 kids and before the crank took my teeth so, I look pretty good in my profile. Just got an email from a used car salesman in New Jersey. He could be the one! And as long as they’re still collecting unemployment benefits bring them on! After I log off MommyBuzz I’ll head over to CafeMom and see if anybody can recommend the best online dating site. Still looking for a real man to take care of my kids. My welfare check arrives on Friday’s and I can’t wait to buy a new Alienware computer. My games are going to be so hot with the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX graphics card!
The list of social networks for moms is growing: they include MomJunction, Maya’s Mom, MothersClick, MommyBuzz, MTV’s ParentsConnect, Famster, Minti, RaisingThem, Cingo and CafeMom. To be candid, I’m not sure which or how all these sites will survive, but surely the market can’t support them all.
Have to go now. Billy can’t find Jeremy. He’s probably stuck behind the furnace again. *Sigh* Do I have to do everything around here?
Certainly appreciate the mention about http://www.cingo.com in your recent rant. Your rant of privacy is the exact reason Cingo exists in the first place. However, unlike many of the websites also mentioned in your post, Cingo is completely private, pass coded , and designed as a private & free resource tool to help families organize their lives more efficiently. Cingo offers the family easy access to a shared online grocery list, easy to use family to do lists for projects and chores, a centralized family calendar everyone can view/share, and daily informational. The site has no annoying pop-up ads, and features up-to-date information that is important to most families; like local movie show times & trailers, local weather forecasts, and shopping tools to help save the family time & money. Take another look, and I’m sure you’ll agree Cingo.com has been designed to help the family, but not necessarily in a “social way” as you alluded to in your post.
Chris, thx for the comments. Will take another look.
[...] Latte Mom That Likes Cars and Men! « MacRant “unemployed guys spend half their time trolling blog comments and the other half trying to pick up middle-aged women on the “Mommy” social networks” (tags: family web two) [...]
Mac – I do believe you are right about missing the point!
Still I think the closed forum definitely has merit – if you see the comments in this post making a mockery of the people that open up their private thoughts on an open forum, you’ll see what I mean…
http://www.spinstartshere.com/?q=node/1831
Cheers
Family based on social network
I am a regular visitor of your blog and always find something new at your site. I have come up with some new findings and want to share it with you.
I just launched a family 2.0 social network, Kincafe- http://www.kincafe.com. and would like to invite you for the review of the service and provide feedback to andy@kincafe.com.
Thanks
Paul