WhatsApp emerges as most used social media app for 50% of Indian moms

WhatsApp has emerged as the most used social media app for a whopping 50% of moms across India, while Instagram remains their first choice when it comes to discovering new products and services in parenting, like last year. This was revealed by a study, titled ‘The Digital Usage of the Indian Mom - 2021 Survey’, released by parenting platform Kidsstoppress.com.

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Conducted online by Kidsstoppress.com during the pandemic year of 2020-2021, ‘The Digital Usage of Indian Moms Survey 2021’ assessed 2,000 mothers across SEC A and B in the age group of 24 to 45 years. In its second year, the survey highlights the Internet usage of mothers from when they are starting a family to having kids under 15 years. More than 650 million Indians were reported to have been connected to the Internet in 2020 and this report helps break down the Indian moms’ Internet usage habits.

‘How to keep kids busy’ soared as the most searched topic during the pandemic by Indian mothers – in a year where there was a surge of 85% in Google searches for online courses. Parents also searched for common pandemic queries like blue light blocking glasses for kids, improving mental health of the family, etc.

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Parental burnout was the most-discussed topic on KSP, where the survey weighed in experts’ opinion and how to make the journey easier for today’s moms. Moms also searched for easy and nutritious recipes for children on Kidsstoppress. Additionally, moms confessed they need help/ ideas not just with their babies, but also with their tweens/ teens.

Not surprisingly, Immunity & Health emerged as one of the top concerns of Indian moms during the pandemic as well as the second most searched topic online. And Instagram continues to be the most preferred medium for product discovery for moms for the second year in a row.

Also, when it comes to sharing content on social media, Funny & Humorous content lead the way, just like the previous year.

One of the surprising results from the survey was about the Indian moms’ online spending preferences. Cash On Delivery remains a preferred payout option for moms, which was surprising given the fact that UPI Transactions in 2020 alone were at a 3-year high, according to Google Year In Search (YIS) 2020 Report.

Key Observations:

Social media’s impact on mental wellbeing is most heavily felt by younger consumers. While a high proportion of older moms still use Facebook on a weekly basis, it falls significantly behind Instagram not in popularity but in aspiration.
If brands want their audience to know something, they should wrap exciting, memorable content around that something and repeat, repeat, repeat.
Brands need to now share ‘use case’ scenarios with their audience through influencers.
When content and commerce collide – data shows that parents who follow a platform/ website/ influencer are ‘13% more likely to buy the product’ versus if they haven’t been recommended by an expert/ platform/ trusted source.
Today’s moms need help from Google & parenting websites, not just when they start out, but in their second phase of parenting too, when making choices for their tweens/ teens. Peer recommendations and trusted information matter the most.