Yesterday was Mother’s Day and while families from all over the nation celebrated moms with brunches, flowers and a multitudes of hugs, RevolutionHealth was busy working with a team of public health officials, maternal health experts and consumer representatives to unveil momScore, a brand new interactive tool that presents moms and moms-to-be with relevant, comprehensive data about maternal health in their states. MomScore is the first of its kind, health index community, that provides nationwide state rankings for maternal health; which means, the health of women during pregnancy, during childbirth and postpartum. I believe there needs to be a renewed focus on the health of moms because a mom’s health has a very meaningful impact on the health of the whole family……

“Researchers believe that our rising maternal mortality rate is due to increasing levels of high blood pressure, obesity and diabetes. In addition, growing racial and economic gaps could contribute to existing prenatal care inequalities.”

MomScore has taken into account 10 attributes to determine each state’s rankings and RevolutionHealth has coupled these rankings with expert-led groups on topics ranging from parenting and healthy eating, to losing weight and de-stressing…….

“To determine each state’s ranking, the expert team weighed the attributes and each state was assigned a momScore from 0 to 100. Some states had better access to prenatal care, which is critical to ensuring a healthy delivery and pregnancy. Other areas had better paid leave policy and childcare services, allowing mothers time to bond with their child after giving birth and peace of mind when they return to work. Air quality was another important factor, since mothers and babies are especially sensitive to pollutants.”

The results speak for themselves, a mother’s health has got to become a priority in our nation and RevolutionHealth is using social media to accomplish that goal. Blogs, forums and communities are being used to encourage moms to take action to improve their own health as well as offering discussions on how the online community can improve their individual state’s momScore rankings. It saddens me to see the very nation I live in with maternal, infant and child health goals falling short. My own state, Missouri, ranks a mere 25th out of 51 states ranked. What is one to do? We can start by participating! Debate your state’s score, share your personal story, or respond to the community or simply leave a comment below telling us your thoughts about how momScore can really utilize social media to promote women’s health.

Fellow Mixxer and social media guru, Matt McGee, has a great post regarding all the most recent round of on-site improvements Mixx has implemented on their site. The funny thing is, Mixx did not mention these changes in their most recent announcement………..

“If Mixx is going to avoid tooting its own horn and keep these upgrades quiet, that’s fine. But I’m all about spreading the word. It’s the little things like this that make for a great experience — especially when they keep making improvements like this every couple months.”

Whether or not Mixx is being humble is beside the point,  the changes are great and Matt explains four of them in great detail. My favorite upgrade is the “More From This Site” button that allows you to see other submits from the same web site. “one click and a Mixx user can see all the content from your site/blog that people have submitted.” Way to go Mixx!

Okay, so I’m about a month late in joining the Mixx party but like I always say, “better late than never”, right?

The good news is, Mixx is still in beta and folks like Tamar Weinberg and Tad claim that this “Digg clone” is gaining momentum with Digg users and folks who don’t feel comfortable on other social networks. Tamar says, “for that reason, you should join now.” So, I took her advice and joined.

Tad goes on to list 12 very good reasons to join Mixx and abandon Digg……..

1. New, fresh, nascent community where your contribution counts
2. Politeness in disagreeing, basically any flaming is banned at Mixx so the ugly Diggers we’re used to by now and who also flame on StumbleUpon won’t attack you here
3. Personalization instead of one size fits all, the front page metaphor of the newspaper does not work for the Net, at Mixx you get your personalized news first, not just the lowest common denominator, thus also niche news get exposure
4. Mixed media with images and videos right up front like on social news mashups allow you a quick overview
5. It’s not just about exploitation of UGC and your “social capital”, you can also gain by promoting your own stuff.

I definitely like the idea of being able to promote my own stuff without being harassed for self promotion. To me, social media is all about the conversation. These sites are simply a means to tell others something, whether it be your own information or the information of others. But some have gotten so “nichee” with their content that no one wants to use them anymore. All the big hitters are signing up for Mixx, you should too.