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.

ChickClick
Logo
Type of site
Available inEnglish
FoundedFebruary 1998 (1998-02)
Dissolved2002 (2002)
Headquarters
San Francisco
,
United States
Country of originUnited States
Area servedWorldwide
Founder(s)
  • Heidi Swanson
ParentSnowball
URLChickClick at the Wayback Machine (archived May 19, 2001)
CommercialYes
RegistrationOptional (required for message board)
LaunchedFebruary 1998 (1998-02)
Current statusDefunct
Native client(s) onWeb browser

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 IGN's website.

During its years online, ChickClick was associated with zine culture and third-wave feminism. It was nominated for two Webby Awards in 2001.

History

Wanting to create alternative media for young women online, Heidi Swanson created ChickClick when she was 25 years old.[1] She pitched the idea to Chris Anderson, the head of Imagine Media who also owned IGN, requesting a computer to allow herself and her younger sister, Heather, to build the website.[1][2] At the time, Swanson had quit her job as a web designer after working for six weeks due to focusing on her Master's Degree at Stanford University.[1]

Shortly after ChickClick's initial launch in February 1998,[3] it merged with EstroNet, a network of female-oriented Internet properties, in October.[4] ChickClick then divided its content between MissClick, targeted towards teenagers, and EstroClick, targeted towards adults.[5]: 255  Afterwards, ChickClick began expanding on its web services, such as its free e-mail and web hosting services.[4][6] Swanson explained that the web hosting, in addition to ChickClick's message boards, was to scaffold young women into using technology to both create and consume content.[7]

In February 1999, ChickClick became managed by Affiliation Networks, a company created as an offshoot of Imagine Media focusing on its online properties,[2] whose name was later changed into Snowball in August 1999.[8] In addition, ChickClick sponsored the music festival Lilith Fair.[3] The website also had plans to launch news channels, including SheWire, a technology-related news channel aimed at women.[3]

In 2000, ChickClick launched an online radio program called ChickClick Radio.[9] Following the dot-com bubble burst, ChickClick faced several employee lay-offs, and both Swanson sisters left the staff to work on Kibu.com.[10] In 2002, Snowball announced that they were closing ChickClick, citing "changes in the economy" as its reason as a reference to its financial losses.[11]

Content

ChickClick was launched as a zine and web portal aimed at women, featuring links to content that parodied mainstream teen and women's magazines.[6] Websites that were part of ChickClick's network included the Disgruntled Housewife;[1][6] Riotgrrl;[1] GrrlGamer;[1] and Bimbionic.[12]: 41  Unlike general women's magazines at the time, ChickClick was seen as "edgy",[6][12]: 41  with personal content and an aesthetic combining riot grrrl visuals with "reclaimed girl culture" such as Hello Kitty and "ironic" artwork from the 1950s.[12]: 41 

ChickClick also featured a message board, where users could participate.[3] It also had a free e-mail and web hosting service that was powered by Lycos.[4][13] The e-mail service Chickmail and web hosting service Chickpages were advertised to the teenage demographic, while Estromail and Estropages were advertised to the adult demographic.[4] Websites hosted on Chickpages and Estropages were part of ChickClick's network, and the owners of ChickClick would profit from the advertisements.[7]

EstroNet

Like ChickClick, EstroNet was created as a collaborative network of websites and zines aimed at women.[14] It was intended to drive traffic towards independent websites created by women.[14] In addition, Heather Irwin, one of its founders, planned for EstroNet to host original content, such as spotlighting women in the technology industry.[14] EstroNet's member sites included Maxi, its first member;[15] and HUES (acronym for Hear Us Emerging Sisters), founded by Ophira Edut and aimed at women of color;[7] Bust, a print zine;[14][16] Gurl.com;[14][16] Minxmag, an online zine sponsored by Pseudo.com;[14][16] Women's Room, an online zine on Tripod;[14][16] and Wench.[16]

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.[17]: 431  After merging with ChickClick in October 1998,[4] EstroNet's original content was divided into its own category, EstroClick, aimed at older women.[5]: 255 

Analysis

Critical reception

In 1998, ChickClick received more than a million visits a month.[1] 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.[18] 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.[19]

Awards
YearAwardCategoryNomineesResult
2001 Webby Awards Community ChickClick Nominated[20]
Living Nominated[20]

Use in academia

ChickClick has been used as a study of zine culture and women's media in the 1990s.[7][21] Scholars Tasha Oren and Andrea Press named ChickClick as one of the websites that encouraged female participation on the Internet.[7] 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.[7]

References
  1. Ganahl, Jane (December 24, 1998). "THE CHIEF CHICK OF CHICKCLICK". SF Gate. Archived from the original on January 13, 2016. Retrieved July 10, 2021.
  2. Gedes, Ryan (January 11, 2008). "Origins: The History of IGN". IGN. Archived from the original on February 29, 2012. Retrieved July 10, 2021.
  3. "Web Site of the Week: ChickClick". CMJ New Music Report. Vol. 59, no. 624. CMJ. June 28, 1999. p. 24. Archived from the original on July 11, 2021. Retrieved July 10, 2021.
  4. Dawson, Angela (January 25, 1999). "ChickClick Seeking a Creative Agency". Adweek. Archived from the original on December 21, 2018. Retrieved July 10, 2021.
  5. Reichert, Tom; Lambiase, Jacqueline (December 1, 2002). Sex in Advertising: Perspectives on the Erotic Appeal. United Kingdom: Routledge. ISBN 9780805841183.
  6. Macantangay, Shar (April 18, 2000). "Chicks click their way through the Internet". Iowa State Daily. Archived from the original on May 3, 2019. Retrieved July 10, 2021.
  7. Oren, Tasha; Press, Andrea (May 29, 2019). The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Feminism. United Kingdom: Routledge. ISBN 9781138845114.
  8. Cox, Beth (August 27, 1999). "Newly Renamed Snowball.com Plans $6M Campaign". ClickZ. Archived from the original on July 11, 2021. Retrieved July 10, 2021.
  9. "CHICKCLICK TO OFFER CUSTOM RADIO". Women's Wear Daily. 2000. Archived from the original on March 1, 2021. Retrieved July 10, 2021.
  10. Zeitchik, Steven M. (October 18, 2000). "Analysis: Teen portals proving unfruitful". CNN. Archived from the original on April 11, 2001. Retrieved July 10, 2021.
  11. "ChickClick Shuts Down". Wall Street Journal. March 27, 2002. Archived from the original on June 26, 2017. Retrieved July 10, 2021.
  12. Marwick, Alice E. (November 26, 2013). "A Cultural Study of Web 2.0". Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity, and Branding in the Social Media Age. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300209389. JSTOR j.ctt5vkzxr. Archived from the original on July 13, 2021. Retrieved July 13, 2021.
  13. Ladendorf, Martina (November 6, 2002). "Cyberzines: Irony and Parody as Strategies in a Feminist Sphere". Digital Borderlands: Cultural Studies of Identity and Interactivity on the Internet. By Fornäs, Johan; Klein, Kajsa; Ladendorf, Martina; Sundén, Jenny; Sveningsson, Malin. Switzerland: Peter Lang. p. 119. ISBN 9780820457406. Archived from the original on July 8, 2021. Retrieved July 10, 2021. The Web ring Chickclick also has a similar section, called "Chickpages"... Chickclick use[s] a service offered by Lycos. The offer to users to create their own Web sites indicates that the editors imagine their readers/users not only as a target group at the receiving end but also as active creators of messages and new media content. The result is the creation of networks among users.
  14. "EstroNet Pumps Out 'Girl Culture'". Wired. November 13, 1997. Archived from the original on July 17, 2021. Retrieved July 10, 2021.
  15. Pepper, Rosemary (October 29, 1998). "Women on the Web". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 25, 2013. Retrieved July 10, 2021.
  16. "Short Take: Women's sites team up in network". CNET. October 20, 1997. Retrieved July 10, 2021.
  17. Gray, Jonathan; Johnson, Derek (April 22, 2013). "Collaboration and Co-Creation in Networked Environments". A Companion to Media Authorship. New Jersey: Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 9780470670965.
  18. "ChickClick". Entertainment Weekly. May 1, 1998. Archived from the original on October 23, 2016. Retrieved July 10, 2021.
  19. Brown, Janelle (July 28, 1999). "Girl talk". Salon.com. Archived from the original on September 6, 2012. Retrieved June 28, 2021.
  20. "Webby Awards". 2001. Archived from the original on July 10, 2021. Retrieved July 10, 2021.
  21. Rayman-Read, Alyssa (December 19, 2001). "Lipstick and Politics". The American Prospect. Archived from the original on July 11, 2021. Retrieved July 10, 2021.
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