In recent weeks, several women friends have sent me (and a long email list of friends) a link to the video of comedian-musician Anita Renfroe singing a day-long mom diatribe to the 2:55-minute tune of the "William Tell Overture." Have you seen it? Probably, but if you haven't, check it out. Oh, it's funny, and rings sadly true to much of what I utter many a day (my kids laughed like crazy watching this.)

But I mention it more because the spread of this video marks a pretty big shift in the way a lot of women who don't think of themselves as tech-savvy nor who spend time on social networks are sharing on the web.

I still get lots of well-intentioned but cloying chain letters promising good things if only we send them off within minutes to a list of five, 10, 20 friends, along with some (usually male-bashing) jokes. But the move to video links signals a branching out that may lead women who haven't ventured onto social networks or to read other moms' blogs to get out there.

On her Techmamas blog, Beth Blecherman says viral videos are the new joke emails for moms. She writes about her two sets of friends, her real life social network and her online social network. She is on the mark when she says her "live social mom friends who may be very technology savvy but never read blogs or have ever joined online social networks are passing around YouTube viral videos instead of jokes or mushy mom inspirational thoughts." It's a sign change is afoot, she writes, and I agree. Maybe, Beth muses, she can get her friends "to join Facebook and post that video to their profile."

All in good time. 

If you've been looking to branch out to find what other moms are writing, check in on BlogHer. And Beth lists some wonderful blogs on her Techmamas blog roll. 

LINK: YouTube Viral Videos are the New Joke Emails for Moms [Techmamas]