Nielsen: Mom center of online, offline life for families

When it comes to being social, moms are probably slightly more social than dads. They talk to other mothers are the park, sit through dance and ballet and t-ball practices - chatting all the way - and they drive carpools for years. Turns out moms are fairly social online, too.

New data from Nielsen finds about half of American moms 'actively participating' in social media have checked in from a mobile device; three of four American moms visited Facebook in March 2012. Moms are also blogging - one in three host a blog, and 52% of all bloggers are parents with kids under age 18.

What are these moms socializing and blogging about online? Many are talking products - which is why brands need to be tuned in. To save time and money, many moms are turning to the Internet to shop, research products and get coupons/deals. According to the report:

• Moms are 35% more likely to shop for clothes and 50% more likely to shop for toys online than average consumers
• Moms are 61% more likely to visit Pinterest than average
• 38% more moms become fans of brands online than average consumers

As for specific destinations, moms are most likely to visit social networking sites like Facebook, Blogger and Twitter. For the general web, moms are more likely to visit Disney Online, iVillage Network and WebMD.

Tags: female demographic, mom marketing, Nielsen, social marketing, social media trends, social networks