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ChickClick
Logo
Type of site
Available inEnglish
FoundedFebruary 1998; 26 years ago (1998-02)
Dissolved2002; 22 years ago (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; 26 years ago (1998-02)
Current statusDefunct
Native client(s) onWeb browser

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 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

[edit]

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

[edit]

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

[edit]

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

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Critical reception

[edit]

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

[edit]
Year Award Category Nominees Result
2001 Webby Awards Community ChickClick Nominated[20]
Living Nominated[20]

Use in academia

[edit]

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

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d e f g 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. ^ a b Gedes, Ryan (January 11, 2008). "Origins: The History of IGN". IGN. Archived from the original on February 29, 2012. Retrieved July 10, 2021.
  3. ^ a b c d "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. ^ a b c d e Dawson, Angela (January 25, 1999). "ChickClick Seeking a Creative Agency". Adweek. Archived from the original on December 21, 2018. Retrieved July 10, 2021.
  5. ^ a b Reichert, Tom; Lambiase, Jacqueline (December 1, 2002). Sex in Advertising: Perspectives on the Erotic Appeal. United Kingdom: Routledge. ISBN 9780805841183.
  6. ^ a b c d 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. ^ a b c d e f 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. ^ a b c 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. ^ a b c d e f g "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. ^ a b c d e "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. ^ a b "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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