Development of the Activity of Parents of Young Children on Social Networks

Abstract

The paper analyzes the behavior and habits of expectant and new mothers on a specialized pregnancy/parenthood-oriented social network, especially whether and how the pregnancy, and later the age of infants, impact the online activity of mothers. The authors compared almost 5000 parents divided into 23 “term groups”—long-term discussion platforms of parents with the same due month. The age of the child (due date) was taken as the basis for the activity analysis—determining the phases in which the users were more or less active online. Results are shown as charts supported by verification of the following statistical hypotheses: (a) users in later-term groups are less active than those in earlier ones; (b) users’ activity peaks around their due dates; (c) users are still very active six months after the due date; (d) activity shortly rises again around the child’s first birthday. We concluded that expectant mothers were most active two months before their due dates and around their due dates. After that, the observed activity decreased, with a slight increase around the child’s first birthday. Our findings can be useful for sociological and psychological studies, as well as for marketing purposes.

Keywords

• social network
• “birth club” forum
• parental activity
• parenthood
• analysis