Cafe Mom!

A social network sites is a web-based service that allow individuals to (1) construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system, (2) articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and (3) view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system.

This is what our link wrote on social networking sites and I would say that cafemom.com definitely falls under that. CafeMom is a SNS that is obviously for moms. You have a profile that you can load a picture onto. You can write how you're feeling in your "thought bubble" (much like facebook). It is a "bounded system" meaning that there are limitations on what you can do with your profile and what you can see on others' profiles. You can have a friend list and see your own friends list of friends as well. So yes, I would say this is a SNS.

Goals.

I would say the goal of this website is to connect moms with other moms. Their smaller goals I think would include helping out new moms, advice for any mom, activities for moms, games for moms, etc. Maybe the ultimate goal is to help moms relax, but then again I think that is a little backwards because if I were a mom and I had some relaxation time, I would most likely not want to play games about children and write posts on my child and load pictures of my child...seems a little repetitious.

I think this page is great for those moms who love to show off their children; but I would say it isn't that distinct from other SNSs except for their wide variety of groups like, advice for moms, 24/7 chat 4 moms, and teen - young moms (I was a little offended!). I think these groups are probably the main driving force for this website because like I said, other SNSs offer the same photo sharing, chatting, game playing, blogging, etc.

Offers.

I feel like I've already kind of dived into this topic with you guys above but anyway... First off, there is photo sharing. I checked out a few mom's photo's and you can basically upload A photo and then it will show them all in order of time uploaded. It's nice because, since this site is all about the bouncing babies, that you can see the progression of growth that all mommies get excited about.

Next, there's a journal part to the website.

I have a few "bones" to pick with you, America.

#1. Since when is a "scary" costume TABOO on Halloween? We went to the "Mall-o-ween" with our toddlers at about 5, because it was easy and we knew we would take them around our neighborhood later. People were giving my son, husband, and I dirty looks for our costumes.. and PRAISING my daughter for hers (fairy) while IGNORING my son completely. Her candy bag weighed double when we got home.. and hers was full of nicer candy, his was full of the crap from China and stuff that I wont let them eat so we donate to the shelter. Nice.



I think they BOTH look adorable and worthy of equal treatment.. I was pretty disgusted by how many people went "oh, hi.. here you go" to my son and gave me a dirty look.. and then went "OMG HI CUTIE! OMG YOUR SO CUTE! OMG! HERE YOU GO! AWWW HAVE TWO!!" to my daughter. Yes.. shes cute. But wow, bash to my other kids ego much?

#2. Whats all this "Safe place" talk? "As long as we go to a safe place..." meaning what? A person who lives in a smaller house than yours is going to kidnap and murder you on the spot? You are going to get shot on a street without streetlamps? I don'tget it. Every year we went trick or treating at my friends aunts neighborhood before going to my grandmas neighborhood.. her aunts neighborhood was a.. GASP.. trailer park! And guess what? It was the BEST! The best candy, the nicest people, and just about EVERYONE participated. It was probably the SAFEST neighborhood we could go to, because there were lots of people and no cars racing past. I mentioned this the other day and someone sneered "ew.. a trailer park?" ARE YOU SERIOUS? Grow up.

#3. WTF is Trunk-or-treating and why does it insist on ruining halloween? When I was a kid, you wanted candy.. you had to work for it! Trudge up and down those hills in your costume, knock on doors. Our kids are so fat and lazy now (or our parents?) that we cant even knock on doors? We have to walk from trunk to trunk in a parking lot? We passed THREE trunk or treating events.. and the consequence of that is the $20.00 of candy we bought for trick or treaters is just sitting here still.. we only had 5 groups of people knock on our door.. maybe 20 kids total. We gave out big handfulls but still have a ton left over. Last year we had about 100 kids at least. What HAPPENED? Last year it was cold and rainy.. this year warmer and dry. So it wasn'tthe weather. I really don't care if this offends anyone.. There are only THREE reasons I can think that trunk or treating exists:

A. Because its inclusive.. aka, done by a church or such and meant for them only. Which is cool... but doesn't sound like any fun to me and then why not go trick or treating afterwords?
B. Because your lazy. You don't want to trudge door to door with your kids, and you don't want them going alone.. so you take them to a parking lot. Ooooh FUN.
C. Because your paranoid. Checking candy isnt enough for you. Walking with your kids isnt enough.. you are CONVINCED your child is going to be kidnapped, poisoned, and killed right in front of your eyes. Yes.. its come to that folks.

Really, I cant think of any other reason. What has happened to this holiday I cherished so as a child? I can remember walking down the sidewalks absolutely crushed with kids.. kids on every square inch of sidewalk.. costumes of ALL kinds. Zombies.. Monsters.. and some cute ones too. I called my grandma today to ask how she held up (its kinda a late night for her, they dont quit until 11pm) but she said she only had a few people there too. WHAT? One year we went through 10 five pound bags of candy at her place... this year she said she counted maybe 40 kids.

What has happened to halloween?



PS... if your kid was scared by my costume, perhaps your kid is a puss. Or perhaps its your job to explain what a COSTUME is? RAWR.

So this was one woman's journal that I thought I would put in there because I like her snappy attitude and the fact that her and her son wore matching costumes. So obviously the journal is useful. You can vent on your stressful day. You can write out to people for advice. You can write about a really good day. It's kind of like this site where you can add pictures to make it more visual. I think it's also a good way to connect inside the website. That woman's post got near 60 comments. People either agreeing with her and giving her the thumbs up and people who are duchebags and say blah blah blah why are you such a bad mom....

They also have games. When I was first jumping through some of their pages, I saw a latte mom game, set it latte land, with a working mom and a little cart with an umbrella where she can "brew" coffee, buy supplies and so on. There are like five different cartoon customers who say the same five phrases, and it reminds me a lot of hot dog stand. I found this game funny because obviously every mom drinks lattes... and I say that in the manor of, at least where I nanny, every mom does drink lattes. So yay for games.


They also have a daily buzz... where you can choose the age of your child and read up on some cool things they might like. The first few are about Dr. Suess bedding from Potterybarn, Leftover Halloween Candy: 7 Ideas for Your Kid's Sweet Stash, and Holiday Toy Catalogs: Let the Wishing Begin! So that's pretty nice. I actually might check out some that don't have to do with spending money for Brock, he's three and a cutie pie for the most part.

They have polls. Pretty simple concept here. Every SNS seems to have polls since America is obsessed with other people's thoughts and feelings. They have "showdowns" which is kind of like a poll...where I believe the site puts up two pictures under one category and people vote which is the best... kind of mortifying if I were a mother and I lost.

Seriously, who could pick between these two?

Anyway, that's all the big stuff. That's basically what CafeMom is all about. If any of you are moms, I would say it is worthy enough to join it for the articles on parenting and activities and such.