Babble.com

Babble is a parenting magazine targeting young, educated, urban parents.[1]

Contents

History: Then and Now

Babble was launched in December by Nerve Media, the people behind Nerve, a popular online sex magazine. After one year, the site has grown to half a million readers per month. Babble Media was spun off as an independent company in 2009[2], and was acquired by Disney Interactive Media Group in 2011.[3]

Mission statement

"To tell the truth about parenting, to bypass the clichés and dig into the magical and maddening reality. Our commitment to readers is to explore the world of parenting on a daily basis with ruthless honesty, and with the humor and lyricism natural to the subject."

Website Features

Babble content is divided into seven sections.

  1. The Columns section includes: editor's note, bad parent, parental advisory, notes from a non-breeder, psychic nanny, infant industry, street fashion, gadget inspector, and field trip.
  2. The Features section includes: babble best, personal essays, celebrity interviews, how we live, and special issues.
  3. The Health and Development section includes: forums for topics and questions about pregnancy, newborns, infants, and toddlers, as well as columns (including cribsheet and pediatrician poll), and polls.
  4. The Fashion and Products section includes: Babble gift guides, featured products, searches, columns (including professor product, design with david netto, and face off), and polls.
  5. The Entertainment and Travel section includes: reviews of films and other kid stuff, Babble Guide to Grown-up Fare, columns (including travel columns), and searches.
  6. The Video section includes: featured popular videos, columns (including found video, rock n roll mamas, and tv time capsule), and video contests.
  7. The Blogs section features blogs, including strollerderby, band on the diaper run, political nanny, fame crawler, and drool.icio.us, as well as personal blogs, including knocked up, baby squared, and baby daddy.

Criticism

Although the website has won praise from some, it has also been criticized, for example, by Time Magazine, who accuse it of focusing too heavily on a hipster aesthetic that is exploitative of the actual children, commenting that "being a unique, creative individual through your kids that's disturbing." [4]

Notable Contributors

References

  1. ^ Paul, Pamela (December 10, 2006). "Healthy Babies Need Irony". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/10/fashion/10Babble.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1. 
  2. ^ Jenna Wortham (January 30, 2009). "Sexy Nerve.Com Kicks Parenting Site Out of the Nest". The New York Times. http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/30/sexy-nervecom-kicks-parenting-site-out-of-the-nest/. Retrieved November 13, 2011. 
  3. ^ Evelyn M. Rusli (November 14, 2011). "Disney Acquires Parent Blogging Network". The New York Times. http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/11/14/disney-acquires-parent-blogging-network/. Retrieved November 14, 2011. 
  4. ^ Poniewozik, James (February 8, 2007). "Culture Complex: Too Cool for Preschool". Time. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1587254-2,00.html. 

External links