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Social Media: Blogosphere Pioneer Jeannette Kaplun

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Jeanette Kaplun Meet Jeannette Kaplun, pioneer. She has been blogging since 1999, for Latino mothers, and she has met with great success along the way. Her story is typified by a willingness to take risks, work hard, and help others. This is that story:

While she was born in Texas, she was raised in Chile, where she graduated top in her class in Journalism and started a television career as a news reporter. She came back to America in 1997, after having decided that she didn't want to be "married to the news," and instead met and fell in love with the man that became her husband. During that time, she also went out on a limb and responded to a casting call for a spanish Discovery Channel technology show. She was hired and reviewed tech products and gadgets for Video@Linea for four years.

In 1999, Jeannette co-founded Todobebe.com, the first pan-regional baby and parenting website in Spanish and Portuguese, at a time when online content for the Hispanic community was scarce. Soon after, she started doing a half-hour Todobebe show on Telemundo, the second-ranked Spanish network. Eventually, the show expanded to an hour-long format and moved to Univision, the number-one Spanish network. It is now in its third season. She also began blogging about her pregnancy and motherhood in the early 2000’ s, at VivaLaFamilia.com, and today that site also has a dedicated television show of the same name on the same network. During this time, she also authored the book Todobebé: Todo lo que necesitas saber para el primer año de tu bebé (Rayo, 2006), and had two children, who are now 8 and 5 years old.

So, Jeannette is not only a pioneer but a successful entrepreneur, mother, and true social media expert, by virtue of not only her "blogging age" but also her success. When asked what her vision for the future of the blogosphere is, she cites several things as key elements, namely:

  • Portability (i.e., the ability of audiences to access information with mobile apps) will be huge.
  • Blogs will become less generators of original content and more "curators of content," filtering vast amounts of available information to suit the needs of their readers.
  • Bloggers will need to use multiple media, such as video, to engage their audiences.
  • SEO and other "necessary-evil" tools will continue to be important.
  • Social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Tumbler will play an increasingly important role. Jeannette says, "Facebook is crucial for me because that's where my audience is."
  • Bloggers will need to stay on top of change, pay attention to hashtags, etc. because "you never know what the next "Facebook" is going to be."
  • "Great content drives clicks." This is the most fundamental, consistent rule.

Jeanette Kaplun and family Jeannette's journey so far has indeed been amazing, and one she says would not have been possible without the help and support of her husband, who was in on the creation of her sites and who continues to be her sounding board and partner in the raising of their children. "It's always been about helping others who might feel isolated or disconnected or confused as they strive to get the information they need to make good choices as parents. There is a huge need for information, and for a trust circle," she says. Her passion is helping others, and she says: "Babies and children are amazing. If you can help someone improve the lives of their children, it is a beautiful thing."

Find parenting and information tools from Jeannette primarily for parenting of kids ages 0 to 5 at Todobebe.com, posts on parenting at BlogsDeMamas.com, and videos and photos from the VivaLaFamilia show at VivaLaFamilia. You can also find Jeannette at@JeannetteKaplun and on Facebook/JeannetteKaplun.

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