| URL | http://www.mumsnet.com |
|---|---|
| Slogan | By parents for parents |
| Registration | Optional |
| Available language(s) | English |
| Owner | Mumsnet Limited |
| Current status | Online |
Mumsnet is an online network for parents.
Contents |
Mumsnet is Britain's busiest website for parents, hosting discussion forums where parents give and receive peer-to-peer parenting support, as well as discussing a wide range of other topics. Currently, the site receives 570k site visits and 32m page views each month, and 1.5m monthly unique users make approximately 25,000 posts each day.[1]
Mumsnet was set up in January 2000 by Justine Roberts, a sports journalist, and Carrie Longton, a TV producer. It is now in its eleventh year of operation.[2] Mumsnet's 10th birthday party was hosted by Google UK at their London headquarters in March 2010. Guests included Ed Miliband and Steve Hilton, and both the then-Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, and his wife Sarah Brown gave speeches. Gordon Brown referred to Mumsnet as one of the great British institutions.[3] Mumsnet launched a site aimed at grandparents, Gransnet, on 5 May 2011.[4]
Mumsnet currently has 570k unique users per month (https://www.google.com/adplanner/planning/site_profile?hl=en#siteDetails?identifier=mumsnet.com&lp=true)
In November 2009 newspaper articles spoke of the forthcoming UK general election as "the Mumsnet election",[5][6][7] in part because mothers were regarded by politicians as key floating voters and online forums were seen as arenas in which their votes could be courted.[8] The then prime minister[9][10] and the leader of the opposition [11][12] appeared on the website's webchats in quick succession, and this was widely reported. The site faced a barrage of publicity, not all of it favourable.[13][14] Others have been dismissive of the importance of the site to politicians suggesting Mumsnet users comprise of a relatively narrow demographic. Toby Young argued that the site is full of Guardian readers and "peopled exclusively by university-educated, upper-middle-class women who are only "swing voters" in the sense that they swing between voting Labour, Lib Dem and Green".[15]
Mumsnet has become a popular resource for journalists, and discussions on the message boards have been cited in the press. Users of the site have sometimes felt that reproduction of Mumsnet discussions in the press is unwelcome, and the Daily Mail's regular "This Week on Mumsnet" column generated controversy on the site in September 2009.[16]
The site has hosted webchats with celebrities and politicians, including former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, whose apparent failure under persistent (if ironic) questioning to reveal his favourite biscuit[9] was cited in some quarters as evidence of a perceived indecisiveness.[17] Roberts later explained that the question had not in fact been put to him.[18] Prime Minister David Cameron was challenged over the provision of free nappies for disabled children[19] and UKIP leader Nigel Farage told Mumsnetters that a UKIP MEP Godfrey Bloom was "100% right" to say that "no self-respecting small businessman with a brain in the right place would ever employ a lady of child-bearing age."[20]
Jamie Oliver, Dawn French and Gok Wan have all also taken part in Mumsnet webchats.[21]
Mumsnet has published several parenting books, based largely on the advice posted by the site's users since its launch in June 2000. These are Pregnancy: The Mumsnet Guide (2009),[22] Toddlers: The Mumsnet Guide (2009)[23] and Babies: The Mumsnet Guide (2010).[24] Their latest publication is The Mumsnet Rules[25] which was published in 2011.
In April 2006, lawyers acting for "childcare guru" and former maternity nurse Gina Ford contacted Mumsnet, when some of the bulletins shifted from discussing Gina Ford's methods and advice to making personal attacks on her and her family. Her lawyers claimed that she was being libelled on a regular basis and requested immediate removal of the posts in question. After 12 months of discussion Mumsnet settled the dispute by apologising publicly to Gina Ford and making a contribution to her legal costs.[26] In November 2010, Mumsnet co-founder Justine Roberts wrote to Prime Minister David Cameron, urging reform of the draft Defamation Bill to address the rise of online publication.[27][28]
Mumsnet has initiated several national campaigns, and publicly supports a number of causes related to parenting.
In response to forum users' experience with care and support in the NHS for miscarried pregnancies, Mumsnet launched its Campaign for Better Miscarriage Care[29]; the campaign proposes a series of recommendations for improvement of the treatment of miscarrying parents in the Mumsnet Miscarriage Code of Care,[30] which was drawn up in consultation with its users.
In January 2010, the site launched its Let Girls Be Girls campaign. The campaign challenged retailers to ensure that they did not contribute to the premature sexualisation of children through their products and marketing.[31] In December 2010 Let Girls Be Girls was extended, and called for an end to the display of 'Lads' Mags' in children's view. This received the support of the main UK magazine retailers, with the exception of WHSmith.[32]
In January 2011 Riven Vincent, a regular Mumsnet user with a severely disabled child, received widespread media attention after posting on the site about her despair in the face of local budget cuts.[33][34][35] In response to Ms Vincent's plight, Mumsnet launched its Respite Care campaign, which calls on local authorities to provide adequate short breaks for families with disabled children.[36]