Netmums
| Web address | www.netmums.com |
|---|---|
| Slogan | Supporting families since 2000 |
Netmums is a UK based family of local websites set up and run by mothers. It includes a discussion forum and provides support and advice for parents on a national level. Netmums has over 1,500,000 members, 4 million unique users a month, and over 27 million page views a month[citation needed], making it the UKs most popular social networking, advice and support website.[1]
History
Netmums was set up in 2000 by Siobhan Freegard, Sally Russell and Cathy Court.
Content
Netmums is a network of 151 local sites that cover the whole UK providing information on places to go, things to do, education, childcare, and community, social and employment issues.
Parent supporters
Netmums launched the Parent Supporters, PS, campaign in 2008 with money from the UK Government. Since the launching of the service in the middle of March 8, over 2,500 parents have been helped with nearly 4,000 different problems.[2]
Netmums campaigns
Netmums gives a voice to families where it matters in order to highlight collective opinions to decision makers.
- The Real Parenting Revolution
Overarching all its work in 2011, the Real Parenting Revolution calls for a societal understanding and acknowledgement of the challenges facing parents. Throughout 2011, Netmums will be campaigning for support to be there where and when parents need it.
- Save our Children's Centres
250 children's centres are set to close or be downgraded. However, Netmums are supporting local parents to show them that they can take a stand and importantly, make a difference.
- Three Men and a Baby
5,900 Netmums completed a survey to show what matters most to mums and what issues are likely to affect their voting decisions in the 2010 general election.[3]
- Maternity Matters
Netmums has been campaigning for improvements in maternity services for over two years.[4]
- Families need Health Visitors
Netmums is calling upon the government and primary care trusts to take account of the concerns of parents, and the organisations that represent their needs and views, and to reverse this decline.[5]
- Better Support for PostNatal Depression
Over the past three years netmums has conducted three studies which have looked at different aspects of postnatal depression and anxiety.[6]
Netmums books
Netmums has also published eight books Feeding Kids (2007), How to Be a Happy Mum: The Netmums Guide to Stress-free Family Life (2007), Toddling to Ten: Your common parenting problems solved (2008), Your Pregnancy: The Netmums Guide to Having a Baby (2009), Baby's First Year: The Netmums Guide to Being a New Mum (2009), Baby Sleep Solutions (2010), Getting Ready to Start School (2010), and You and Your Tween (2011).
How to be a Happy Mum and Toddling to Ten both appeared on the Nielsen BookScan Top 30 Family Books List in 2009.[citation needed]
In the media
Director Siobhan Freegard has a good relationship with GMTV and BBC Breakfast, often appearing as a representative of mums today, or writing comment pieces for the newspapers.[citation needed]
- Recent coverage
Netmums is cited as a place for mums to seek support in desperate times in an article on how social networking sites can save lives.[7]
Siobhan Freegard, founder of Netmums was invited by The Independent as the voice of mums to comment on the Gordon Brown/Piers Morgan interview.[8]
Siobhan was invited onto the Gaby Logan show to talk about the power of petitions, highlighting further the work Netmums are doing in campaigning for the Top Ten Issues mums care about as shown in our recent '3 Men and a Baby' politics survey.
References
- ↑ Google Trends highlighting Netmums as most popular parenting site
- ↑ [http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/familyinformationdirect/services-mums.shtml, Netmums provide online support as part of Families Information Direct]
- ↑ [http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2825999/Tory-joy-as-mothers-desert-Labour-in-Election.html, Netmums politics survey quoted in The Sun]
- ↑ [http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/11/25/mums-fear-over-births-115875-21848283/, Survey by Netmums and the RCM quoted in Daily Mirror]
- ↑ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/mar/04/postnatal-care, "Cutting back on health visitors is a false economy" says Netmums Sally Russell in The Guardian]
- ↑ [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1120285/Half-new-mothers-suffer-post-natal-depression-lack-families.html, Netmums director Sally Russell comments in the Daily Mail]
- ↑ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/pda/2010/feb/26/socialnetworking-bebo, 'Social media can save lives'], The Guardian
- ↑ [http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/gordon-brown-on-tv-a-political-coup-or-a-crying-shame-1900545.html, 'Gordon Brown on TV'] The Independent