Who'da thought? Nickelodeon not only bought GoCityKids.com last winter [$1 million, if you're keeping score at home], they've launched what the NY Times all but calls a MySpace For Parents, but what the rest of us might call a hosted message board.
ParentsConnect.com is apparently out of [private] beta, and ready for your surfing, advising, and blogging infotainment. Among the 20 or so "Host Parents" contributing content and riding herd are an unprecedented four [4!] actual dads, and at least one Daddy Types commenter, CityMama herself, Stefania Butler.
The site touts its "100 percent parent-created" content, but with giant, tasty-sized advertisers like Nissan, State Farm, and Pampers, you don't need a Nick logo to know you're at a center of corporate excellence. So why not plop your kid down in front of the TV for a few, er, a while, and surf around? Do I need to recommend a channel for you?
Nickelodeon Web Site Is Seeking Loyalty of a Parent Generation [nyt]
ParentsConnect.com [p
Despite its having been recognized as one of the best destinations for family vacations (again), St. Louis is conspicuously absent from Parents Connect.
Harrumph. I'll just enjoy America's #1 Zoo (and free) without them.
[if only GoCityKids had done a STL guide, they could've sold out for $2 million. at least. Of course, UrbanBaby doesn't cover St Louis, either, and they sold out for way more than that. -ed.]
Yeah, but if everyone came to your free zoo, you'd complain about all the people seeing the zoo courtesy of your tax dollars ;)
Don't worry - I doubt they mentioned the best pizza in the country here in New Haven, either.
[for the record, the zoo in DC is free, too--and it totally blows. -ed.]
You guys are making me thankful that I pay out the ass to take the kids to Woodland Park.
(Well, okay - I pay $3 a person, thanks to my work discount. But they force me to pay using $3 bills. It's a real hassle.)
[you joke, but I know someone who printed up a bunch of $3 bills to spend on his post-business school tour through Vietnam. He paid for everything with them. I'd like to say he went to work for Enron afterward, but alas, the story's not that clean. -ed.]
ok, so selfishly, i was a little ticked at this announcement, as I have my own social networking site:
http://www.gotkidsnetwork.com
It is going to be difficult to compete with the dollars of Viacom, but after using their site, i didn't feel so bad - we have a lot more features! (but still have a number of features that we are working on). I agree in that a social networking site for parents needs to be a lot more than a glorified discussion board - which is why we keep adding lots of different functions based on feedback (been in beta since January 2006!). Let me know what you think - my user name is frank@beachfrontmedia.com.
Thanks,
-Frank
www.gotkidsnetwork.com
Thanks,
-Frank