With Online Moms, Age Makes a Difference: Study

<center><strong>The survey shows younger moms link online more than older ones. </strong></center>

A new study of user behavior on a popular child-rearing Web site suggests a real generation gap in the way mothers use the Web—a split that marketers may want to take into account when designing campaigns for moms from Gens X and Y.

According to a NewMediaMetrics panel study, mothers born between 1961 and 1981 use sites such as Parenting.com very differently than do those born into Gen Y, commonly considered to be from the years 1982 to 1991.

While both groups had the aim of exploring parenting-related issues online, Gen Y mothers showed a much greater taste for using online tools that helped them connect directly to other mothers, such as text messages and online communities. Indexed against 100 points for the average site reader, Gen Y moms showed an attachment of 132 points for text messaging and 156 points for online communities. By contrast, Gen X moms registered 91 points for text messaging and 105 on Web communities.

Gen Y moms were also more interested than their older counterparts in tools that let them create and maintain their own content. They indexed 127 points (against the 100-point average) for taking and sending photos with their mobile phones; Gen X moms reached only a 106 index. Gen Y mothers were also much more likely to have an online profile (148 vs. 78 for Gen X), to run a blog (149 vs. 71), to read other blogs (160 vs. 86), and to create or share Web video (154 vs. 96).

On the other hand, the survey found that the older generation of mothers was more likely to feel the appeal of task-oriented features such as online shopping, product research and reviews, and photo organizers. NewMediaMetrics found that moms from Gen X indexed higher than their younger peers for attachment to both e-commerce (124 points vs. 105) and online photo albums (129 vs. 116). They also registered a slim preference for online product ratings and reviews (127 vs. 125).

“Both Gen X and Gen Y mom cohorts use technology as a resource to help them meet their needs as parents,” the report concludes. “However, there is a clear distinction in how the members of each group access and interact with their world digitally. It’s essential for marketers to understand these unique characteristics and use this knowledge to drive their mom-targeted marketing strategies.”