No, this isn’t a daft new name for Liverpool. It turns out that ‘The Pool’ is a new website for women, launched this week by Lauren Laverne. It’ll include video, interviews and sound clips, blogs and a whole bunch of lovely stuff.
From the sounds of it, The Pool is going to be less edgy than The Debrief, less clickbait-y than Cosmopolitan and not quite as sensationalist as XOJane. The actual tone and style of the site is going to be interesting to see. With several prominent journalists down to contribute, I’m not expecting pictures of cats in bread.
We’re excited for this at Funny Women HQ, though, especially because our beloved Viv Groskop is involved. She’s going to be the site’s agony aunt with a regular podcast. This sounds like a recipe for comedy if ever we heard one. Someone hold us back from writing in with embarrassing fake questions…
There are quite a few big names signed up to pool their resources (ha) for The Pool. For example, Thomasina Miers, who founded Wahaca, is writing the food blogs.
Where other female-centric blogs and sites have writers who try to be ‘just another normal woman’ (who am I kidding, none of us are normal), The Pool is pulling out the big guns. Will women appreciate the authoritative approach or feel a bit detached from such prominent authors? Wait and see.
Each new post will show you roughly how long it’ll take to watch, read or listen. For the podcasts and clips, this is an excellent idea – but I wonder whether quick readers will be disappointed if they finish an article in double time. I’m a little bit like that myself.
Another interesting thing about the new site is the timing of each post. It aims to ‘drop’ tailored content into your life right when you need it. Like the man with Milk Tray handily showing up just as the worst waves of PMS hit. How clever.
The Pool is set to launch just before Easter. Ideal if you need something to read while munching on that secret chocolate stash.
