Women Community Sites Growing Faster than Other Categories in 2007

While most of the attention these days seems to be on what the latest thing teens, tweens, or y's are doing, looking at recent research from ComScore, it is reported that the Political, and Women community were the largest growing categories for 2007 with an increase of 35% each. The actuals of unique visitors were higher for Women with that number being close to 70M.

Glam Media was one of the biggest gainers (213%) in the Women's category, helped by the acquisition of Quality Health Network, MyYearbook.com and LifeScript.com.

iVillage.com: The Women's Network also made gains with the addition of some sites like checking out exactly what they are and what I'm missing out on - expect to see more shortly on the experience. I've already peeked at iWin.com and think I'm about to lose an hour or two exploring the site. (Yet again, an experience that let's me get started before it slams with me passwords and usernames - take note website creators, let us experience first before we sign up, try before you buy works as well in the web world as any other), MakeoverSolutions.com and iWin.com. Having never been to these websites I need to do some

Hardly the Scraps of the Blogging Community

No surprise that a site like Scrapblog.com has become a success in the female community. Launched in April last year it now boasts to be hosting more than one million scrapbooks. It was only a matter of time for women to return to being the memory keepers and social communicators. Finally tools and websites are out there to support us in these endeavours, if it's your thing, which I must confess is mine.
The article on streetinsider.com offers up some interesting facts in their article:

• 4/5 scrapbookers online are female
• 81% of online scrapbookers use sites such as flickr, facebook, photobucket, picasa

I had a go at creating a scrapblog page and it was pretty fun and painless - and Thank you Scrapblog, a website that allows me to explore and play first before making me register for the site, makes a big difference to my enjoyment on a site.

Where are our games?

Interesting that I should read an article today that points out that game designers are missing an opportunity by not designing, marketing and positioning games for women, when my previous post was for a games site that I think is just delightful. The article appears on the Georgia Institute of Technology website, and is credited to an article run on AOL games daily website. The article points out that nearly 82% of the gaming developer population are male and the games developed are tested by males, and marketed to males. They contrast this to the Parker brothers who manufactured games, where many women were employed in the manufacturing process and became testers of the games, and hence influenced the development of the games so they became games that were enjoyed by multi-generations.
It points out that women over 40 spend more time playing downloadable games than any other part of the population but this fact has been marginalized by the casual gaming business not being as lucrative as the long adventure 40 hour plus playing games.
Apparently Nintendo have decided to go for this market, by saying the others can have the hard core gamers and they'll take the others. They are the first gaming company to have a booth at an AARP convention!
The article also points out that Microsoft is about to launch a gaming campaign aimed at casual gamers (i.e., women) - it will be interesting to see whether that attracts us to their offering.

Irrisitable games at Orisnal.com

If you're noodling around on the computer looking for a way to distract yourself and just aren't interested in playing solitare, take a look at the beautiful delicate games at Orisinal.com (that's right it's original but instead of the 'g' there's a trendy 's' in the middle - took me several repeat visits to the site before I remembered that). Peaceful music, beautiful images, and very gently motivated games that flow. There's so many to choose from like the Puppies galloping along jumping balls on the beach, Kola bears moving from bamboo poles in a rainforest, rescuing little duckies falling from the sky by opening umbrellas.
I find the engagement of the games captivating and they provide a little breathing space sometimes during a stressful period.

How to be the Perfect Boyfriend, and other Advice

Videojug is my new quick moment entertainment and yet informative website. It's a video site (obviously by it's name) but it's not a youtube free for all, this is a website that is trying to provide provide professional short videos to explain just about anything and everything, or as they put it Life Explained on Film, they allow user-submitted content but it's reviewed (I assume prior to posting) and they're soliciting ideas on what to make videos on next. I first discovered it when looking for an explanation of Web 2.0, and Wikipedia had a quote from Steven Fry on Web 2.0, which seemed an interesting person to quote given his a british writer/comedian/actor. He presented a short sensible explanation of Web 2.0. I poked around some more and found loads of topics, and put my vote in for a video on how to demonstrate folding fitted sheets (something that I've failed to master).

Today I was pointed to a fabulous clip that sincerely and humorously addresses 'How to be the perfect boyfriend' though I think it applies to all male partners, and 'How to be the perfect girlfriend' - gosh, it's pretty darned easy when you review the videos. Then in the short list of 'love story films' on the girlfriend page was also 'Four ways Office 2007 will make your life easier'

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It's truly wonderful stuff coming from the producers of Videojug. It's definitely a site that makes you try to think of stuff you've always wanted to know but never bothered finding out. Definitely worth a few quick moments indulging in random asks, and being given entertaining and quite often useful responses.

Knowing the Movies are Always There

So who hasn't heard of Netflixs? Netflixs became part of our lives in 1999 when we had our first child. We love to go to movies, we're talking at least two or three times a week back in 99. Once realizing our evenings out where a little less frequent (though we made the most of going to cry rooms which are small rooms in movie theaters where you can take babies and still see new movies) we bought a big screen tv which came with a trial Netflix subscription. We've been hooked ever since. What's not to like about selecting endless films of your choice to be sent to your home, watched at leisure, and no late fees.

My only minor complaint was I'm surprised they haven't done much to evolve queue management over the years. All I want is to be able to say, 2 movies from this queue (mainstream), 1 from this one (documentary/foreign), and 1 from this one (kids). But with a bit of manual management it works just fine.

But what I tried today was an amazing quick moment! I finally got around to trying their Browse Selection (online viewing). I'd tried it a while ago but it was flakey, but now it's pretty darn great - it was a click-click experience with no thinking to install whatever pieces for viewing, and then the show started to stream - great picture quality, sound, etc. I'm hooked, or to be honest I love the idea that viewing content is available to me at the click of a button. I don't know when I'll really find time to watch something completely on my computer but simply knowing it's there waiting for me provides a quick moment of happiness. I had heard it was pretty good but finding time to try it just doesn't happened until now, but now I'm mentally hooked.

Or may be I like the skinny mac...

Oh, the choices of a laptop that I could have are too much to bare. They come in so many shapes and styles, or are certainly on their way. Take a look at the new ultra-skinny MacBook Air that was shown today at Mac world. May be I don't want a pink pc anymore but a sophisticated designer-like shinny Mac.

Wait a minute, if they really delivered on what women want we'd have an all our personal information, etc., in our glamorous sparkling USB keys that we could plug into any fashionable laptop computer that we could rent from Bag, borrow, and steal. Then I wouldn't have to choose either/or - I could have all of them for a small rental price. Okay, my personal quick moment today is imagining I can change my laptop to match my outfit, my mood, or my meeting or occasion - it's only this implementation that is holding me back from being CEO of the next successful blaptz.com social network, okay I know it takes more than a trendy laptop to be successful but I'm sure it would help me on my way, I would feel the part.

Could it be a Romantic Gift?

What would you do if husband, or loved one presented you with a crystal clad 1 gig USB drive? It's a real possibility as Philips and Swarovski are collaborating to bring stylish USB drives to market. I don't dislike the idea but am hesitant about whether I'd want to receive one for a valentine's gift. Is it possible to receive techno-gadgets as romantic gifts? I think it takes a little effort on the gift giver to really deliver on the romantic gift. How about if the USB key contained photographs from a special occasion, or a special message. What enhancements would you consider to make this a romantic gift to remember?

What would the quick moment be if you had one of these? Enjoying the thought that dangling from your purse was not only an attractive accessory but when that moment arose when someone needed to transfer set of photos, a music file, a video from one machine to another you can whip out your usb crystal clad heart and save the moment. No doubt you'd have just had a manicure so the dazzling contrast between red painted nails and the silver would be striking and everyone around you would wish they were such a well put together woman! Moment over. Let's ignore the moment where it would be located at the bottom of your overstuffed purse with sticky candy, tissues, and old movie tickets.

So does a PC purse make it onto your shopping list?

So what do you think? Can you imagine yourself with a fashionable taylored laptop that matches your outfit? Yes that is a laptop in the share of a bag. I wonder if they've considered that we'll still need to carry a purse alongside it as we have other stuff. These are only prototypes from Microsoft who are trying to seed the PC manufacturers with the notion that there's a market for customized laptops likes these ones. If it's light enough and works when I open it up, maybe I'd like one, but it might be a while before the price point is appropriate. A step in the right direction though.

Look Whose Watching, or Rather Creating!

An article was posted on Clickz today that shows the number of females watching Youtube videos online has risen (Pew Research).

• A 120% increase in women watching videos like Youtube videos online. 11% in 2007 from 6% in 2006.
• A 100% increase in women posting videos aged between 30 and 49 posting videos. 14% in 2007 from 7% in 2006.

Though I didn't answer the survey that number would include me. This holiday season I posted two short clips of my kids singing songs and wishing grandparents in England seasonal greetings - these are those good ideas you have, and can win excellent family credit points, if only they really are quick moments. Here are three quick insights from my experience:

1. Getting my kids to perform a 40 second holiday greeting for grandparents was tougher than I first thought, my initial clips I tried to post were too long. Trying to cut my daughter from singing all 6 verses from the school holiday song was an emotional experience. There must be ways of cutting video clips, but who has time to search during a quick moment? (if I figure it out I'll post)
2. My parents sending me email to ask that how to unblock the software on their computer or did he need to buy a new viewer as the message said he needed to install a new viewer, all this confusion because of an error message on the youtube site. Someone needs to figure out who the 30-49 year old women are posting videos for, and whether that audience will be able to easily view the videos.
3. A few days after posting receiving a message from Moldytoastervideo to ask for permission to subscribe to my video postings. Surely the mailer wasn't seriously interested in my terrible clips, but made realize that yep, I'm posting my clips out there for the world to see. Even now I'm surprised that the clip labeled 'gymnastics' has been accessed more than 200 times. I could have set permissions but that would have been more mail exchanges with my parents.

Its good to see Pew pick up on OUR generation as an up and coming audience for video clips. And I must say while posting my kid videos I also lost time in exploring youtube and finding other channels that I hadn't seen before. See, once we have a need to enter these spaces we can explore and generate click through in a different way from the Ygen. We just need a justified value proposition to enter but then once in, we can lose track of time - win for you services and implicit win for us too. (BRIT quick moment: For anyone wanting to see Michael Parkinson interview Beckham it's here).

What do Avon and Apple have in common?

It was announced today that Andrea Jung, 49, chairman of the board and CEO of Avon, has become a director for Apple's board of directors. The official business posts seem to be focusing on her depth of business experience, and rightly so. I'm not fully familiar with what directors on boards have influence over, mostly things like making sure companies don't run aground in legal areas and are insuring the business is behaving fiscally responsible to share holders, however the idea of seeing someone with almost a decade of senior experience at Avon and prior to that Neiman Marcus paired with a company like Apple just speaks to me that elegance, simplicity, could be further fostered. Imagine the depth of her audience knowledge which is one that I don't think technology markets are fully considering. Again, as a board member it's not that depth of knowledge that will be tapped into, but still let your imagination think what quality depth of knowledge from these two companies could do for for our-gen if the world worked that wayy?

Crafted bargains at Etsy.com

There's nothing like finding unique bargains, something unusual, something that's spontaneous and special. Have you visited etsy.com? I only came across it this month and wish I had an excuse to look for some gifts or presents to buy. Actually I did find something to purchase - old 50's and 60's dress patterns for my daughters (not sure if that counts as a quick moment for me to enjoy or for them? ). I like the idea of searching for vendors locally or different types of vendors. It's an attractive site, and an enjoyable shopping experience. Take a look, and may be you'll find something you simply need and haven't been looking for!

There's a fun color experience, to shop by color. I'm not entirely sure how the color feature works but mousing over the colors and clicking provides a little stack of objects that are matching in color tone. It's simply a few moments of frivilous fun. Click on any item in the stack to bring the image to the front, and click on it again to put it back in the stack. It's a nice way to get started when not knowing what you're shopping for.

People are citing Etsy.com as an up and coming site for 2008. I hope it becomes boomingly successful as its another outlet for small businesses and home craft industries and continues to empower women to combine personal passions with business. And also allows those of us who aren't that industrious to show support by purchasing and supporting these individuals - such a hardship!

We can do it,We use to do it, and It'll never happen

Remember what it was like to have ambition and belief that you could achieve what you set your mind to? Today I came across two items that make we want to rekindle that spirit and find a moment to feel the rush of hope that it's all possible.

First there was an article on MSN.com on the women's page about making time for yourself (article). This article is more assertive in terms that you should be able to take back your time and set your mind to achieving your goals whether it's to write a book, run a marathon, or start a business - go for it, try it. I am a person who will try and act on my gut desires but there are many days and things I want were the goals aren't particularly hight and even then I'm simply not going to achieve them. Like I don't even strive to have my closets at home look like a California Closet, in fact I once flipped through the ad catalog and thought if I only could make my closet look that good I'd be happy - it wasn't until spending a moment or two longer I realized that I was looking at their 'before' closet. Is my closet the only one that looks ten times worse than the before picture?

The next quick moment of reflective dreaming came when I came across a young singer who has be named as an up and coming star in the UK, on BBC - Adele. She's 19. She doesn't come from any special family background, but she was focused and set up a MySpace site a couple of years ago, which was spotted and she's now bringing out her first album this month. I love hearing of people taking flight and here is a young woman who has managed to use social computing to create her opportunity. I wanted to hightlight Adele not because I have aspirations of being a singer (that would be scary!) but it makes me remember aspiration. We need to figure out a way to exercise our aspiration muscles so it can lead us to getting our minds hopeful of change, and then may be we can achieve the goals that MSN article identifies, or at least getting our closets to the 'before' pictures.

... Now as I've casually mentioned the California Closet company I went in search of the before picture to post from their website, but what did I find, not just a website that allows me to order shelves but a philosphy about as complex as taking up Buddism (or should that be as simple as?). There are tabs on rooms, okay that makes sense, but then there are inspiration areas where it's all about life which a woman walking in the shallow ocean with her skirt hitched up looking at pebbles. There are articles about swimming in cold lakes. I'm not quite making the connection between my closet and a cold lake but may be I will after reading some more articles on artisans. Okay I read some more on the site, still didn't make the connection with my closets. Maybe as this blog progresses we'll find out why I have a fear of the California Closet company - their intent seems genuine to consider your lifestyle with storage, and perhaps perfect storage would free me up to pursue other pleasures but not sure why that dream moment isn't coming to me. Wait a minute, I've just figured out my California Closet moment, it's when we're staying in a vacation rental property and I've taken just enough clothes for all family members for a 10 day trip, then I can hang matching clothes, shoes, jackets on minimal hangers without wrestling hangers into a closet where if things fall off their hangers they can stay floating off the ground for weeks before the pressure is such that they fall to the ground. (BTW those of you who know your closets will note the photo is not a Ca closet but some immitation, I mean, would Ca Closets allow that shirts on the pole?).

So I say Thank you for the Music, for giving it to me.

You're finally alone with a computer (hmmm... I think more about phone indulgences at some point) and you wish to hear a song you haven't heard for a long time, as you never have your CD's with you, or haven't bought one in years but haven't got around to an MP3 player. Have you tried Pandora.com? It's a free, yes free, music service. It even has an elegant way to get started as in you don't need to sign up for anything, simply type in the name of an artist or song and it get's going. It's sweet. And yes the service does remember songs from the seventies and eighties. You can listen and provide a thumbs up or down to help it learn the type of music you like.
A moment can be just searching your mind for a song from the past, typing it in, and then listen to it and remember the original moment of the life you were living when you heard the song, the hopes and dreams you had at that time.
And yes, they have Abba.
I've tried other services and will comment on them in a different post.

Is there time for luxury bags in your life?

Now this item is probably worth a dream moment, and try not to be practical in these moments. I came across a site called, Bag Borrow or Steal. It's worth a perusal. It's a site that allows you to pay a $5 a month membership fee and then you can borrow bags or jewlery from them for a day, week or month. Now the down side is you do have to pay an additional fee for the item you have borrowed, and the price depends upon the luxrious nature of the item. For example you could borrow a nice Coach everyday bag for $50 a month, or a Prada clutch purse for $400 a month, but if you're dreaming consider the vintage Hermes Crocodile Birkin Handbag at $4,800 a month!
I ask you to ignore the practicalities of where would you go with such a purse, how would it manage all the twiddly things, lipsticks, fluff, etc. from your current purse, or bulging wallet. Simply imagine being the kind of woman that can use this service successfully - imagine what it feels to be part of a lifestyle where you have time to consider your purse or bag on the way out of the door. Imagine what it's like to receive a beautiful purse in the mail that requires being respected. I love the idea of living a life where this would be me.
Okay moment over. See the web can provide us with moments to dream on and brief rests from our hectic day. Good luck to Bag Borrow and Steal and all it's wonderful clients, and who knows may be one day I will have time to use the service, and live the vintage bag life style.

There is no time

It's a world that moves quickly and the moments we have to ourselves are very brief. I'm looking to use this blog to share insights of how women can use the web to their advantage, so when you have that brief moment how can you have a satisfying experience that makes you feel you. I'll be sharing my own experiences and reviewing new technologies and trends I hear about. Women have always been social creatures who are responsible for communications, household management, child care, family management, socializing, events, etc. Well, if we look at some of the claims of Web 2.0, you'd think our lives are about to change and our time that was previously taken up with these tasks is going to be either more engaging being enabled by technology and might even free up our time to be ourselves. I'm going to try and steer clear of working mum (or mom's) descriptions or even mother and baby posts, as many other sites do this very well, but please be patient if I lapse from time to time. I am a working mother of two girls (8 and 5), I'm from England, and have an American husband, we live in the pacific northwest.
So if this blog florishes it should be a point to show you how to regain those joyful moments of when you time was less busy, but my guess is it will be like mine - you'll hear the time saver snipit but won't have time to do. That's okay in my book as long as you take a zen moment to think about the experience you're so close to having if only time allowed.