ChickClick

ChickClick was an American website for women that was online from 1998 to 2002. It was created by Heidi Swanson as a web portal for websites created by young women. The website also served as an online community, with a message board and Internet radio program called ChickClick Radio. It also provided a free e-mail and web hosting service, known as Chickmail and Chickpages respectively. After ChickClick's launch in February 1998, it merged with EstroNet in October 1998. After the dot-com bubble burst in 2000, the website became defunct in 2002 and now redirects to IGNs website. During its years online, ChickClick was associated with zine culture and third-wave feminism. It was nominated for two Webby Awards in 2001.

ChickClick was an American website for women that was online from 1998 to 2002. It was created by Heidi Swanson as a web portal for websites created by young women. The website also served as an online community, with a message board and Internet radio program called ChickClick Radio. It also provided a free e-mail and web hosting service, known as Chickmail and Chickpages respectively. After ChickClick's launch in February 1998, it merged with EstroNet in October 1998. After the dot-com bubble burst in 2000, the website became defunct in 2002 and now redirects to IGNs website. During its years online, ChickClick was associated with zine culture and third-wave feminism. It was nominated for two Webby Awards in 2001.

EstroNet

Like ChickClick, EstroNet was created as a collaborative network of websites and zines aimed at women. It was intended to drive traffic towards independent websites created by women. In addition, Heather Irwin, one of its founders, planned for EstroNet to host original content, such as spotlighting women in the technology industry. EstroNet's member sites included Maxi, its first member; and HUES (acronym for Hear Us Emerging Sisters), founded by Ophira Edut and aimed at women of color; Bust, a print zine; Gurl.com; Minxmag, an online zine sponsored by Pseudo.com; Women's Room, an online zine on Tripod; and Wench. The founders of EstroNet were familiar with Heidi Swanson since 1995, and as ChickClick had corporate funding, which EstroNet lacked, they allowed Swanson to take over the website. After merging with ChickClick in October 1998, EstroNet's original content was divided into its own category, EstroClick, aimed at older women.

Analysis

Critical reception

In 1998, ChickClick received more than a million visits a month. Entertainment Weekly gave the website a B+, stating that both ChickClick and EstroNet had "useful information, provocative thought, and handsome visuals laid out with clarity and taste" but that its effect can be hard to take seriously. ChickClick was also one of the websites criticized for having sexual information, and in 1999, anti-pornography advocates cited concerns that this would lead to more underage sexual activity and cause harmful development in young girls.

Awards

Use in academia

ChickClick has been used as a study of zine culture and women's media in the 1990s. Scholars Tasha Oren and Andrea Press named ChickClick as one of the websites that encouraged female participation on the Internet. They also noticed that while ChickClick was active as part of the zine culture, it was branded as alternative content for women and separated itself from radical feminist zines.

Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1376121923 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.