Taking the Village Online: Mothers, Motherhood and Social Media

The rise of social media has changed how we understand and enact relationships across our lives, including motherhood. The meanings and practices of mothering have been significantly impacted by the availability of communities found via forums, blogs, and sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, as well as internet resources that function to inform maternal experience and self-concept (ex. motherhood websites, Pinterest, or YouTube). The village that now contributes to the mothering experience has grown exponentially, granting mothers access to interactional partners and knowledge never before available. This volume of works explores the impact of social media forms on our cultural understandings of motherhood and the ways that we communicate about the experience and practice of mothering.