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Go to Oxygen.com If You Can Never Get Enough Oprah Looking for beauty and baking tips, rather than boring women's issues? Have some insights about anger? Click here With all the talk of how women are about to take over the Web, both in audience share and as e-commerce spenders, you might think that the Net would rekindle some of the independent thinking -- feminist spirit, even -- that has been rusting away in our mothers' minds. It was with that expectation, at least, that this twentysomething ventured recently onto a revamped Oxygen.com, the Web site for women created by former Nickelodeon President Geraldine Laybourne with help from such friends as billionaire Net investor Paul Allen, talk-show doyenne Oprah Winfrey, and America Online. My interest had been piqued by an Oxygen TV commercial featuring a baby girl whose father desperately wants to hear "da da" for the first time, but who instead hears a crisp "ma ma." Take that buddy, I thought, and when I got to work I went straight to the site. Oxygen's new screens are somewhat rudimentary. But at first glance, the site offers an enticing lineup of six sub-sites, plus bulleted news items and tidbits on TV shows and books -- and no references to anything pink. Mom's stories about the women's movement kept coming back to me. Right on! And then, I clicked... Well, that was the way I was going to start this review of the newest of the top three Web sites for women, one with plenty of visitors each month and hundreds of millions to spend on development. But then, a new friend of mine, an editor here at BW Online named Patricia O'Connell, asked a pertinent question: What has Oxygen set out to be? Does it aspire to be different from the talk shows and magazines and Web sites for women -- such as competitors iVillage and Women.com -- that recycle beauty tips and advice for the lovelorn faster than most of us recycle soda cans? Or does Oxygen simply want to beat all those others at their own game? In a phone conversation, Oxygen Editor-in-Chief (and Business Week alumna) Sarah Bartlett says that Oxygen's goal is to "appeal to strong, independent, assertive, appealing, and modern women -- not ones wallowing in the difficulty of our lives." And the site's bold, if vaguely Star Trekkian, statement of purpose -- "to serve women better than they've ever been served before" -- implies something similar. Still, in all the press releases -- and reams, literally, of press clippings -- that have appeared about Oxygen, its No. 1 goal seems to be commercial: build a big audience of women, then collect millions from the advertisers and merchants who want to reach them. So let's scratch that visceral review I was about to write and look at Oxygen not in some idealized way, but as it stands now. I was at work, you'll recall, and pumped about this site. I registered and jumped into a message board labeled "Ask Oxygen," where I found a long list of messages for Oprah -- descriptions of assorted woes and requests for her prayers. How interesting, I thought: a place for folks who can't catch Oprah on TV, and no sign of those often boring discussions of women in education or the workplace. As I explored further, I found discussions on topics that never really get a complete airing on daytime TV: mother-daughter relationships; maintaining a strong husband-wife relationship once children arrive; and how the right clothes can make or break you, or your figure. It was hard to break away from the message boards -- which on many sites can be downright flaky -- and get to the meat of the Oxygen Media family: Thriveonline, Moms Online, Girls On, Oprah.com, electra, and ka-Ching. When I did, however, I found a veritable treasure trove of tips on baking, eating, and child-rearing, and advice for the lovelorn. True, that's all a little predictable. But at least it isn't as annoyingly serious as ka-Ching, Oxygen's personal-finance channel (which, I concede, does have the virtue of being the most original part of the site). CHOCOLATE TEST. Nowhere are there more tips than at Thriveonline, the Oxygen site whose goal is to promote healthy living. It provides links to top doctors and health-care plans, plus information on various ills, sleep habits, meditation, calories, and the reincarnating benefits of an exercise called the stomach crunch. What really caught my eye, though, was the link asking "Are you too fat?" That led me to the BMI (body-mass index) calculator, for women who are curious about their...body mass. My BMI is 24.9, which I would never have known without this site. I also tried Thrive's Chocolate Test -- which is intended to gauge my ability to tell by looking at a chocolate what's inside -- a cherry, for instance, or caramel, or some sort of soft filling. I got one right out of 10. Oh, well. The tips just keep on coming in Moms Online -- like games to play at a baby shower, info on pregnancy, recipes, and ideas on how to keep a neat house. Not to mention what to do if your husband surfs the porn sites ("get in his face, girl!" advises "Spike" the resident adviser and, I presume, expert on this subject). And don't forget the top 10 things you love to hate about Thanksgiving. All I can say is bless the women who have the time to create homemade holiday gifts and plan rainy-day activities for the kids even as they start and run companies. There were a couple of things out of the ordinary in Moms Online. On one message board, I ran across a serious conversation for moms who own small businesses. There was also a commentary on why it's O.K. to have a stash of guns in your home: That's fine, it seems, if you have a houseful of passionate hunters and your kids are well-educated about the dangers of weapons and the rules for their use -- and the punishments for breaking the rules. "SAVING FOR A GOAL." After that, it was back to more comfortable territory. Girls On is, like, for teen girls who, like, you know, get off on movies, TV shows, CDs, books, authors, and actors, who, like, rock. In other words, it's, like, awesome. The site even offers polls with such brain-twisters as: "What do you think of (enter actor's name or video)?" When you post your opinion, the site lets you know how everyone else has voted. Overall, Girls On keeps teenage dialogue on a harmless level (one visitor offered a review of a book she hadn't read but thought was great because her friends had loved it). And there were no messy discussions about such real-life problems as girls and sex, or girls and drugs. Who, after all, wants to risk scandalizing their moms? They might be just a few clicks away. Speaking of moms, when they run out of things to do on their very own site, they can check out Oprah.com. It has gotten lots of attention and gobs of traffic, thanks to Oprah's daytime talk show. Each show's topics are outlined and discussed on message boards. Oprah's book reviews are here as well, plus just about anything you'd want to know about Oprah, as well as the opportunity to reveal anything about yourself that comes to mind. Want a recipe from Oprah's favorite chef? It's here. Want to tell everyone how you're doing on your carbohydrate diet? Speak up! Have something insightful to say about anger? Don't hold it in, honey. If you're an Oprah fan, you'll love it. Oprah overshadows so much of the site that I almost missed ka-Ching and its commentaries for women on subjects such as how to finance your own business or teach your kids how to budget for using a credit card. Women can also test their ability to save money with the "Saving for a Goal" calculator (that's one I'll use). Unlike the rest of Oxygen, ka-Ching is devoid of all those useful tips on affairs of the heart, hearth, or female bottom. Call me crazy, but Oxygen isn't for me. What I wanted was sharp dialogue that dealt with tough questions such as "What have women done wrong in their efforts to gain respect in the corporate world?" Or maybe comparisons of women worldwide: Wouldn't it be interesting to hear more about the strides women in other countries are taking toward financial independence and to compare their successes with those of U.S. women earlier in this century? Or maybe discussions of how much progress women have really made if they're still being judged based on their body shape, size, or body fat. Well, that's what I would have said before I realized what Oxygen is about. It has a women's sports site in the works for January and a pile of cable-TV shows set to debut in February. It's taking on iVillage and Women.com head-to-head and may well demolish them. Most likely, it'll be a huge financial success and make its investors richer. There's a telling comment on one of Oxygen's message boards: "Your site looks like Betty Crocker meets Jane Jetson." With an endorsement like that, how can Oxygen miss? Schneider is a reporter for Business Week Online in New York _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ |
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