DECA

What’s more challenging — parenting or marriage?

That’s the question on the table this week over at Momversation.com. The site is filled with videos of conversations among changing combinations of some of the Web’s most trafficked “Mommy bloggers.”

I wanted to post this episode of Momversation and open it up for discussion here because it’s not usual for me to have such a different opinion than that of the other panelists, and in this case it’s not so much of a different opinion than it is a different experience. What’s more difficult, motherhood or marriage? And when I thought about this question it was pretty clear cut for me. I mean, six months into parenthood I checked myself into a mental hospital. That’s a pretty good indication that the software was not compatible with my operating system.

Whereas my marriage has caused its fair share of wrinkles, but it hasn’t ever made me consider checking out of life.

CNN’s Don Lemon and some cost-cutting moms discuss ways to help kids understand the tough economic times.

I should say right off the bat that I don’t have kids. So what am I doing at Momversation, a video blog about the experiences of motherhood? Well, I’m an avid reader of Dooce, Heather Armstrong’s popular blog, and she’s one of Momversation’s contributors. She recently linked to an episode about handling political disagreements with loved ones — a relevant topic regardless of your parenting status — and I decided to check it out. I was intrigued by some of the other episode titles, like “Sex After Baby” and “Childbirth Choices,” and was surprised to find myself sucked in…

Watching Rebecca Woolf talk to me (she sits so close to the camera, it feels like that’s what she’s doing) about how motherhood changed her sexuality, or Daphne Brogdon talk about how judgmental people are of women who have C-sections, I did feel a connection to motherhood I hadn’t felt before. Watching these women talk to each other, and to me, I couldn’t help but relate with them — because first and foremost, their struggles seemed like the struggles of women, not of a special breed of human beings called “moms.”

Sometimes the mom blogosphere seems like an international conspiracy to halt the human race. Like the most recent episode of the video blog Momversation, in which four mom bloggers talk about sex after having a baby. “It took a really long time for me to feel like a woman…maybe a year, maybe more, maybe a couple years,” says Nataly Kogan. Dooce’s own Heather Armstrong admits that she didn’t have sex for seven months after her daughter was born, and in an interesting analogy, Mindy Roberts says, “I’ve never seen a kitchen that turned out anything that was worth eating that didn’t get all messy and icky in the process.”

CB: You recently launched Momversation. Can you tell me how that project came to life and how Target got involved?

MW: We officially launched Momversation.com on November 12. We launched a mom-focused property about six months ago called “CoolMom” where Daphne Brogden, who is a talented comedian, TV host, and mother, gives daily humorous insights about motherhood through video and blogging.

CoolMom gave us a great window into the world of mom blogging. We began thinking: why not get a bunch of the more popular mom bloggers together and give them the opportunity to express their opinions and stories with each other through video? We decided it was a great format for us to pursue, and we began developing it.

We approached Target a few months ago with the idea. They liked the idea and the rest is history.

Momversation, sponsored by Target, is driving conversation and community around the issues of moms. The video serves as a fantastic differentiator, creates emotional connection, and is potentially truly remarkable content.

Well, in an attempt to snag a chunk of the lucrative mom market, California-based production studio DECA.TV is has put the Web’s most popular mommy bloggers in one place and on video. Momversation.com, officially launched today, is a Web site and an Internet video show, which airs three episodes a week. The format takes subject such as disagreeing with family over politics or bribing your kids with food and lets four of its panelists hash it out.

Well-financed (big ads from Target who is the primary sponsor) and good distribution (the site has teamed up with Yahoo’s Shine) the site has definite possibilities.

Los Angeles-based digital entertainment studio DECA announced today that the firm has launched a new show, Momversation, focused on the “mom” demographic. The firm said the new show and site features video conversations between several popular “mommy bloggers”. The new show is hosted by mommy bloggers Heather Armostrong of Dooce, Alice Bradley of Finslippy, Daphne Brogdon of Cool Mom, Asha Dornfest of Parent Hacks, Nataly Kogan of Work It, Mom!, Maggie Mason of Might Girl, Mindy Roberts of The Mommy Blog, and Rebecca Woolf, Girl’s Gone Child. DECA said it will post three episodes a week, each three to five minutes in length, featuring the panelists discussing different topics. The show is coming out of the gate with Yahoo! as an online distribution partner; the firm said it also has secured a sponsorship from an unnamed, retail chain. The firm’s site currently features advertising from Target alongside its videos.

Get it? Momversations. They’re digital conversations from some of the internet’s most outspoken mommies and, though the mommie genre is certainly nothing new to web video, DECA’s application combines true talent with a production process that’s really organic to the web.

Here’s how it works: one expert blogger-mom brings up a topic (i.e. food as a reward), records her take on the topic, then passes it down the line where the divergent takes from her fellow digital panelists are recorded. The videos are sent to DECA, yada yada yada, we get a catchy succinct, pointed, sarcastic and fun-lovin exchange on the joys (and pitfalls) of parenting…You don’t have kids, or your use the internet to get away from them? Fine. Still, take note of how this innovative application of interactivity truly crafts the media. Good job DECA.