Now a new report on the 2010 Mom Social Influencer offers some great numbers and interesting facts about just how much the marketplace should be valuing the insights moms have to offer. The segmentation study comes from BabyCenter, a great site to check out.

The report identifies five unique segments of social moms: the Field Expert (A young but experienced stay-at-home mom who uses social media to share parenting advice), the Lifecaster (A millennial mom of young children who is always connected and communicating using social media), Pros (A self-employed Gen X mom with young children who loves giving well-thought-out advice and values recognition.), the Butterflies (A mom-to-be expecting her first child who is so tightly scheduled that she tends to only post on important updates using  social media), and the biggest segment called the Audience (a very large group representing a mix of moms at different stages, from expectant moms to moms of older children. These women have fewer online friends and comment less frequently in social media, but are still present and highly influenced by the other segments) .

Interestingly, the Influencers category counts for only 18% of social moms, but they wield 78% of the influence.

Here are the report’s key highlights:

• Pregnancy and birth triggered 94% of moms to seek out information and share opinions with others online.
• 18% of social moms wield 78% of the overall influence.
• Field Experts and Lifecasters make up 16% of audience and wield 67% of the influence.
• 91% of social moms use Facebook for socializing and 89% use BabyCenter for gathering useful information.
• Pros have 89% of influence on blogs, Lifecasters have 47% on Facebook, and Field Experts have 44% on the BabyCenter community.

This is a "Zhu Zhu Pet," retailing for about $10. It's one of the hot toys this season, but don't be surprised if you can't find it.

Remember the hot toys from years past–Tickle Me Elmo, Cabbage Patch Dolls and Furby? This year the holiday season’s early hit is the Zhu Zhu Pets hamster, an interactive mechanical rodent. But it is also almost impossible to find as the holiday shopping season draws near. It’s not because parents are rushing out to buy the robotic mouse.

No, instead of those parental buying binges of the past, the empty shelves are pointing to another trend in our down economy: The shortages come from stores that are concerned about ordering too much (like they did last year), and are keeping their inventories thin.

The result, with seven weeks to go before Christmas, is that popular toys and perhaps even the unpopular ones are already hard to find.

(Other hot “must have” toys this year are Mattel’s Mindflex, a Nerf dart thrower called Nerf N Strike from Hasbro Inc., and Barbie Fashionista.)

One analyst at Timetoplaymag.com predicted shortages of the top 100 toys by early December, rather than the traditional top 15.

Other analysts report that in recent weeks toy makers have dispatched executives to China to make sure they get enough products to keep shelves full.

Last year retailers ordered too much merchandise and had to take huge discounts almost as soon as the products hiot the shelves. You’ll remember the headlines last year that said holiday sales posted their biggest decline in at least three decades. That was enou8gh to put stores like Circuit City out of business.

This year, Karabus Management, a retail advisory firm reports that inventory is 8 to 13 percent smaller for mid-price clothing, and 10 to 15 percent smaller for home furnishings.

My advice as inventories are shrinking: Shop early. Better yet, do something really radical this holiday season and find creative–even philanthropic–ways to give gifts to loved ones!

Here’s a trend that that continues to shape the blogosphere: Moms talking to moms.

Mommy-bloggers are proving to be quite influential with their readers. In fact recently at the fifth annual Blog-Her conference in Chicago, more than 1,500 people attended the conference, a mere fraction of the tens of thousands of women who blog.

Among the many discussions there, a new term: “Blog-ola.” That is the free favorable publicity or positive reviews that moms often give to companies supplying them with free products and other perks. I’m hearing that the Federal Trade Commission is considering new guidelines to help clarify what constitutes advertising in the blogosphere. That’s because companies from Wal-Mart and Kmart to Ragu and Michelin tires work with mom bloggers and tweeters, for practically nothing.

But is this type of target marketing and having bloggers review products and services something that needs regulating? Moms have afterall been recommending products they like to other moms for decades.

___________________________________________________________________________

The Mom Network

Which blogs speak to moms? Quite a mommy-bloggers have huge followings, including Motherhood Uncensored and Mom-101.

And they’re not just blogging. Check out this incredible Twitter site called TwitterMoms. It is a unique network of highly influential, active, and “networked” moms. The site even has an “advertise with us” page that says:

Nearly 80% of our members maintain personal or professional blogs — many with substantial followings. More than 95% of the members use Twitter to communicate with a range of friends and followers. All of our members are socially active and engaged online. We help advertisers and marketers who want to reach and engage this influential audience. A good program on TwitterMoms can drive impact way beyond these pages, thanks to the network effect of the community.

We know that moms control upward of 80 percent of household spending, so I think it makes perfect sense to have mommy bloggers, and now Twitterers, review and promote products and services.

A new study by a marketing firm shows that while all mothers are battling with the growing concerns  such as education and saving for the future, a mom’s high-tech habits and purchasing motivations are tied into her culture and ethnic background.

BSM Media examined the behaviors, values and habits of mothers across racial lines in a new study, and found that when asked about their top three challenges as a mother, saving for the future and the rising cost of food topped lists across all respondents. Caucasian moms named managing the desires of their children for material things as a challenge (45%), African American moms are battling with affordable housing (35%) and Hispanic moms are feeling challenged by the need for steady income (56%).

What I find particularly interesting but not surprising is the technology habits of moms.  The majority of our Alpha moms  (85%) turn to the Internet first when looking for product recommendations and other mom-related parenting advice.

The Internet was also the top answer among all races, when asked which piece of technology they couldn’t live without. The cell phone came in a close second for Hispanic moms (30%). While online, African American mothers are more likely to read articles (68%) and experience music (45%). Caucasian mothers are likely to frequent social networks (45%) and message boards (43%). Blogs were the top choice among Hispanic Moms (55%) followed by social networks (42%).

Blogs are popular among all respondents, with 58% naming the media among their favorite forms of content online.
When viewing advertisements, the majority of all respondents notice the product first, rather than the ad’s message.

Overall, Caucasian and Hispanic moms think marketers are doing a better job in speaking to them than African American moms.