I love mommy blogs. I do. My love began when I first discovered Dooce several years ago, and it’s grown from there. Somewhat odd for my age, I am in no way a part of their “target audience” (sorry, mom—no kids for a long time), but I just think they’re great. Why? Because they’re funny. Insightful. And their kids are cute. They say funny things. These blogs are a glimpse into their lives and things I will potentially encounter in the future (I appreciate the heads up). So you can imagine my excitement as a PR professional at the constantly growing influence mommy (and daddy) bloggers are having in the marketplace and continually shifting media landscape.

For a cool $40-$45 million Disney recently bought Babble, a parenting news and blog site with over 200 contributing mom/dad bloggers. While it’s a slam dunk for Disney in reaching its target audience, the Wall Street Journal is correct in saying that this begins to blur the lines between advertising and blogs. However, a deal like this only further reinforces the powerful influence this community has, especially one that’s recognized by a company like Disney. For more on Babble, MediaPost also does a nice job explaining.

As PR professionals, we’re always trying to identify influential bloggers. Sites like Babble easily turn into a resource when going through this process. These bloggers have been selected to contribute based on their existing presence in the space, and usually come with a wide network. But this landscape isn’t all burp cloths and sunshine. As with any social channel, content and following are key. We saw this last month as Gannet recently shut down its MomsLikeMe website due to low site traffic. Hopefully the trend continues in the positive direction, while maintaining the authenticity that has catapulted the parent blogosphere into the forefront.