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A Twitter Spinoff Launches for Moms

March 27, 2009
by Elizabeth Holmes
Reporter, The Wall Street Journal

Elizabeth Holmes

Can mommy bloggers become mommy tweeters?

A new microblogging site targeting moms and modeled after Twitter launched Friday. Rachael Herrscher, a 31-year-old mother of three, has added the abbreviated commenting feature to her site Today’s Mama.

Ms. Herrscher is not the first to rip off the idea of Twitter. The more popular the site becomes–it is adding millions of users by the month–the more knockoffs pop up. There are Twitter clones for different countries and a handful by subject or topic.

Dubbed “Connect” on Today’s Mama, Ms. Herrscher’s version has several Twitter traits. Posts are constrained to 140 characters or less, comments directed at someone begin with the “@” symbol and topics are marked by the “#” symbol.

Unlike Twitter, however, Today’s Mama has a group function. Ms. Herrscher has created groups by region, such as Bay Area Mamas, and topics, such as parents of teens or the book “Twilight.” After a user joins a group, she can send a message to it by adding an exclamation point and the group name.

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