Social Networks for Moms

This article is Part 1 of a series and was written by Christina Lemmey, Editor of Moms Talk News and owner of Multimedia VA.

Working from home has many advantages, including no commute, no work wardrobe, and no extra childcare costs. Many work at home moms believe the juggling act between balancing work and family is well worth the savings they experience, whether they own their own businesses, telecommute, or sell direct sales products.

However, one aspect of working from home that is often forgotten about is the social aspect. How many
times did you “stand by the water cooler” talking about the most recent episode of Grey’s Anatomy? Or did you take a 10 minute break every hour and chat with your best friend about your weekend plans? Even the most quiet employee in a traditional office has the opportunity to interact with other adults and make friends but it’s quite a bit different when working from home.

Many work at home moms (as well as stay at home moms) have gravitated toward the multitude of social networking sites that have popped up over the last few years. A social network essentially is a website where you can set up a profile page describing your interests or business and then link to other profiles or friends. Many of these are meant for business networking and some are meant for social networking. No matter which networking you’re looking for, you have many choices on the internet.

The most popular social network is probably MySpace, which is aimed at a young crowd and frowns on business networking. Teens love the site because you can design your own page and connect with people from all over the world. Of course, the inherent dangers of revealing too much personal information is present on any social networking site and for any age group.

Before joining every network you find (and discovering that you don’t have enough time in the day to visit them all) take a look around each one and decide if it appeals to you, either for business or for social interaction.

Here are some of the most popular social networks for moms (in no particular order):

Facebook- connect with friends and coworkers; expand your circle of friends by meeting friends of friends; good for both business and social activities.

LinkedIn – specifically geared for business networking; find former coworkers or cultivate new business relationships.

Twitter – miss chatting with your friends over coffee? Here’s the online replacement! The trick is keeping your comments to a maximum of 140 characters before getting cutoff. Great for both business and social.

Cafe Mom – specifically geared toward moms; after signing up you have the chance to set up a profile and then join subgroups within Cafe Mom to meet new women, vent your frustrations, or to get advice.

Ryze – one of the first business networking sites; set up your profile and then join subgroups specific to your business, hobbies, marketing, advertising, etc.

Ning – can’t find a social network that suits you? Then create your own! Even Britney Spears and Tyra Banks have their own Ning networks.

Plurk – seems to be nearly identical in concept to Twitter, even with the 140 character limit.

Pownce – an alternative to email; you can send messages, files, links, and events to people on your friends list.

YouTube – submit your own videos or simply view videos online; both business and social videos are available and you can subscribe to different video channels, which alerts you when a new video by a favorite producer is published.

Mom Bloggers Club – group specifically for those moms who blog; both social and business networking available; connect with new friends or join smaller groups within MBC.

And this list is only the tip of the iceberg for numbers of social networking sites! Wikipedia has a very extensive list of social networks, some of which are very large and others that are much smaller and dedicated to a particular niche.

No matter what social network you join, please remember to use caution when revealing personal information and don’t just join a site to spam the other users with your job opportunity. That’s a sure way to have friends drop you and it could get you banned from the site altogether.

Stay tuned next week for an indepth review of Twitter Moms!

About the Author: Christina Lemmey is the Editor of Moms Talk News and blogging mom. In addition to running her VA business, Christina is also the full time chef, maid, nurse, homework helper, taxi driver, and bank to her two daughters.

photo credit: nakedsky