Family Circle Website Review

Family Circle magazine's website

Since Family Circle ranked as a top 10 ABC magazine based on circulation and made it onto Adweek's 2010 Hot List, I had high expectations going into this review of the publication's website. Though I'm not a subscriber of Family Circle, I like to think I have parallel interests in family-friendly topics—you know, easy dinner recipes, quality time with loved ones, work/life balance. But spending just a few minutes on the site made it obvious that I'm not Family Circle's demographic of interest, moms of teens and tweens. That said, I attempted to consider how the site would be seen through the eyes of its target audience. Here's what I found:

Strength of Content: 5
Overall, there appear to be more ads than content. There are generally two types of content approaches on the site: 1) straight text with few or no images and 2) photo slideshows. Which format you see is dependent on the nature of the content—for example, how to talk to your teens about driving versus a showcase of body-flattering swimsuits.

Surprisingly, there are no interactive elements such as videos, quizzes, polls, calculators or games. The most interactive elements on the site are the ads!

There's an obvious attempt to serve content in a personalized manner. Articles are categorized under groups such as "Our Top Picks for You" and "You Might Also Like." Sometimes this makes sense, as with the "You Might Also Like" choices underneath the story you're currently reading. Sometimes it's a little confusing. How would the "Top Picks" be chosen for me specifically? I just got to this site—it's not like there's a click history on me. Which leads me to think the site just shows the same featured content to everyone as "Our Top Picks for You." If that's the case, it would make more sense to just call it "Top Picks."

Ease of Use and Navigation: 5
Overall, the site is simple and straightforward. The main header navigation breaks down articles and pages by categories of interest to the demographic: Teens & Tweens, Style, Health, Family Fun, Food & Recipes, and Community.

It's unclear which links are taking you out of the site. Also, any exiting links load the new Web page in the same window, so the only way to return to FamilyCircle.com is with the "back" button.

There is one annoying feature: Every other link I click, I get stopped in my tracks with an in-your-face interstitial asking me to SUBSCRIBE NOW. While I understand Family Circle is aiming for print-magazine and newsletter subscriptions through the site, there are less intrusive methods that don't interrupt a user's experience on the site.

Use of New Technology: 5
The site takes advantage of some database handiwork to showcase content in various ways: most e-mailed, most commented, most viewed, related articles, more you might like, etc. On that note, the site is rather keen on serving up content based on what is most popular. This gives visitors a good gauge on what topics are trending high among moms (and any other visitors) on the site. At the end of some articles, there is a "most popular searches" list that shows topics in the form of a tag cloud. This is yet another way the site provides content based on popularity. Beyond that, though, the site is surprisingly simple, with no real interactive elements.

Design and Layout: 5
In general, the look and feel of the site are crisp, bright and energetic. The homepage is straightforward and simple, but almost to a fault, since it can come across as lacking in any really interesting information. It's hard to tell where the ads stop and the actual site content begins, and vice versa. One positive thing about the homepage is that it gives various entry points to articles and social elements (such as joining on Facebook or visiting Family Circle's Momster community).

Unfortunately, the ads are probably the most interesting elements on the site. They have more animation, color, interactivity and graphical elements than the content itself.

Level of Social Media Sophistication: 7
Family Circle started the Momster community, which lives on a separate site, in the past year or so. This can be an interesting resource for moms, with numerous forums and groups of ongoing conversations on topics of interest. What's probably most noteworthy is the way FamilyCircle.com pushes this social network dedicated to moms of teens and tweens. Momster holds prime real estate on every main and category page of the Family Circle site and invites you to connect with other moms on topics related to the page you're on, whether it be bread machine recipes or how to talk to your kids about alcohol.

There's a constant right rail element to "Connect With Us," featuring a newsletter, Twitter, Facebook and of course the Momster community. However, the Twitter and Facebook elements really could have been worked into the content of the site more—there's no obvious benefit to joining either one, aside from the fact that it's available.

Each article has share functionality for just about any social medium imaginable, plus open commenting and "liking."

Overall Rating: 27

All in all, the site has some good foundations but lots of untapped potential—especially given the magazine's high readership and how active and info-hungry its key demographic is.

Posted By: Joyce Kuo