Session: Mommy Blogging
Speakers: Jenny Lauck, Jenn Satterwhite & Meghan Townsend

Flickr pictures

Stigma of term - why is the connotation bad from the term "Mommy Blogger." Perhaps it comes down to the whole mommy thing. There are, after all, stigmas as well on being a mommy full time. Why not be proud? So, just like putting "I used to be a..." before you say you are a mom, it's all about how people self-identify in addition to how others classify moms.

It's also a record of the lives for the kids - not the kids being used in any personal gratification way. [The Mommy Blog] I agree, and the value I would get as a parent in giving this treasure to others and as an archive to pass on would be great. Imagine if you had it - what memories! And what parenting knowledge too.

Mommy blogs are not just for family or other mothers. By putting them down to less than writing is like labeling films as chick flicks. It's about writing, in many senses. And it's just another form of identity blogs - personal blogs.

What is a mommy blog? Just one category of family/parenting blogs. It contributes to other parents and the community at large.

There is some backlash to mommy blogging - parenting is a very personal thing so I can see how others would push back.

It will affect what people read about themselves and what others will know of them in the future. We have to think that Googling someone is cool now and has value for anything from dating to employment, but later it will be only normal that things as broad as childhood also become a norm to what you see when you're Googled.

Do you think ill of biographers or autobiographers?

Most mommy blogs are not about children in exclusivity. They are about life and opinion, really, like other personal blogs and other topic blogs in general. Heck, people may call their blog a mommy blog and only do it for 20%. Or, they may talk about politics most of the time on a political blog but also be a mommy blogger.

She is a mom, but she is, but she could be, but she was. BUT.

How much of mommy blogs are edited in light of families or spouses? This is a general blogger thing we feel, but families, as above, can be very passionate about how you raise your kids. The same is with spouses - blogs can be a good way to share and let off steam and writing can be a necessity, but if that is not embraced by those close to you, it can hurt relationships.

Sharing on blogs has broken marriages. It comes down to different comfort levels in what to share. What part of sharing is you and what part is the family?

There is also a lot of passion about "putting kids in danger" by blogging about them and posting pictures. Is it not true that sending them to school is also dangerous? And, blog or not, most of your life is available in Google. Most danger to kids is from people they know, when threats are personal, but there are those rare cases of people truly motivated to target strangers. Perhaps the threat is that of children celebrities - fixation may be more likely from this attention. Some may also be media attention. Stranger child abductions play on fear and sells in the media. It has happened that someone laid claim to another's kids at a school by showing evidence gained on a blog. So, the risk is obvious in some cases.

Julie Leung brings up that not putting pictures up is a choice she made. She tells stories of mothering but gives later choice to her kids to be online or not.

If the kids ask, listen. If they don't want to be online or if there are stories they want to keep private, respect it. Your kids have as many rights on this as any.

Last thought - it is seriously impressive to cram out some great posts on parenting or whatever in light of the task of parenting! Creating a permanent memory in minutes...

BlogHer Live tracking page

Technorati Tags: blogher, bloghercon, mommy blogs

Session: Blogging 101
Speakers: Susan Mernit and Julie Leung

Flickr photos

Live blogging - read here.

BlogHer Live tracking page

Technorati Tags: blogher, bloghercon

Session: How to Be Naked
Speakers: Heather Armstrong (Dooce), Ronni Bennett, Koan Bremner. Jory Des Jardins, moderator.

"What happens when you blog your true self and the whole world shows up?"

Flickr photos

I was really looking forward to blogging this one. To taking pictures and blogging. On one hand, that is asking a bit to do both. But on the other side, this really was an eye opener. A topic I had not in the least explored with people I both knew and did not know. Now, I was glad I had no wireless and no desk, because it let me listen to it all.

Plus, I knew off the bat I would have my own little history through the live bloggers. You can see their posts here and here.

BlogHer Live tracking page

Technorati Tags: blogher, bloghercon

Session: Blogging for Business
Speakers: Lisa Meyers Brown, Susan Getgood, Christine Halvorson, Mary Smaragdis

Flickr pictures

How to be successful:
1. Define your topic
2. Hit an emotional chord, not just intellectual ones
3. Use banners to your advantage to grow your traffic
4. PR works
5. Maybe ignore the ROI and focus instead on changing attitudes not sales
6. Corporate culture must foster trust and internal dialogue
7. Have a policy
8. If you don't want it to be in a press release, don't put it on a blog
9. Be risk tolerant - goes with trust
10. High level executive support
11. Be open to the value of community
12. Be willing to let go of some editorial control
13. Show you are committed to it
14. Keep the motivation high, and this can include helping with topics
15. Write about what you know (topic and opinion)
16. If you allow employees to blog, allow them to do it whenever with the caveat that the rest of what they do needs to be done
17. Speak to your niche community of readers, if you know who they are. Otherwise be more broad.
18. What is your mission? Stay true to it
19. Is it a product blog? An 'on the scene' blog?
20. Find the great writers in your company, no matter what they do
21. Do not be afraid of having opinions.
22. Express honest opinions on competitors, but don't push it

Who should do it? You, your employees or (ack) your customers? Strategy comes into play here, of course. You can also do all three.

If you have evangelist customers, ask them to be a part of a customer blog. They must be customers present online, of course, and this is especially true if fan sites build up. You also must make it fun and easy for your bloggers to write. After teaching them how to do it, perhaps, you can also provide inside scoops and help interaction build through comments. You can also engage with fan sites, rather than starting up all new customer blogs. It need not be controlled within to filter your news.

Stonyfield Farms blogging came about after the CEO worked on the Howard Dean campaign and saw the benefits of blogging.

BlogHer Live tracking page

Technorati Tags: blogher, bloghercon

Debate: Play by today's rules--or change the game?

Speakers: Charlene Li, Halley Suitt, Lisa Stone

"The power women bloggers have at their fingertips...and how to use it."

"The A-list? Sometimes I think it's stupid. But if you don't play into it then you don't get the visibility--and I think it is important to get visibility for what you do. It's a Catch-22: You have to play their game but their game kind of sucks." --Private conversation with a woman who has blogged for six years about her life and her work as a developer [site]

The traffic we have is only as good as the search results. And women are really not present. Does the lack of links from link counters and top bloggers cause a problem?

The 80/20 rule is hard to fight against. 80% of visibility comes from 20% of the blogs. So, what is the problem if we have credibility? Visibility or credibility? Do we want to be A-list? To make money from it (yes).

Yet at the same time, as we all know, women are virtually missing-in-action in the game of best-known blog listings, like the Technorati Top 100 and TLB Ecosphere, which rank blogs based on the number of incoming links (not quality). The miniscule number of women on these lists is as unrepresentative of women bloggers as the number of women CEOs in the Fortune 500 (eight) is to the number of women working (nearly 50 percent). Bottom-line: It's hard to find you. And if you care, then it looks like we'll have to fix that ourselves.

The debate questions:

1. Does the lack of links from link-counters and the so-called A-list represent real, institutional barriers to entry or contrived barriers to entry--economically, personally, professionally, culturally? Does the lack of links hurt/help/not affect women bloggers who seek to gain recognition, rewards, revenue, cultural change.

2. Does playing by the existing rules of blog link-counters shout down alternative, diverse and new voices? Are we participating in our own demise? Why/Why not?

3. Do we owe it to ourselves and/or other women to win this game even if we don't personally care about the lists? Could separate ever really make us equal? Why/Why not?

4. If we want a meritocracy, do we need to code one ourselves?

Where are we failing? Networking. We, as women, do not effectively network. We do not ask for what we need and show what we offer in return - that is effective networking. It is far more than social. Also be relevant. People link to the A-listers, it's not all just internal linking. However, unless you want to get in the game, you need to be relevant. Also, be unique. Understand who is relevant to you and how you are relevant to them. - Charlene

Ask the A-listers to mention you. Over and over. Women do not ask. And ask three times. - Halley

If 25% of people in here don't care about links, it causes some dissent in the room to hear her tell people to ask for links.

The press looks at the A-list, so you better believe it counts.

Many A-list blogs are consortium blogs, not written by just one person. How do you fight against it?

The debate is loud in here. Just a little thing to let you know.

We should have top lists for each major keyword - this will show women far more.

Charlene - A list does NOT mean Technorati 100. It is more about what is important to you. Keywords or topic areas are also important.

Blogging is not just about what gets into top lists. It's not all just about politics or technology. Blogging can and is about what is counter to media, and that field is large. - Halley

Social structures are different - women build dense but intense networks, not wide weak ones. So, current network structures validate the male network sense, and that we must understand and play to these rules if, and this is if, you want to be on the list. - Danah Boyd

Be clear about your goals and what you want to make happen - this will help you communicate well and get that traffic.

Is your goal traffic or what you want to do in the world?

When you are relevant and you focus on the content, you can become the source. Credibility can be more important, and can lead to visibility.

Many publishers ARE looking for fresh news and views. Mainstream media is not necessarily dead. Give it a chance and perhaps embrace it. Ask for coverage again and again. It is, afterall, a marketplace of idea - albeit one that currently suffers from lack of diversity.

We need to get on the big blogs that have multi-authors. We may not be invited, but let's ask!

We need lists that embrace individuals, not companies or groups. Let's get a list of individual bloggers.

Technorati 100 is mainstream media now. So, perhaps it's time we forget it and embrace a new way to subvert the mainstream.

Join a network. The model is there to support us, to give us exposure. Weblogs Inc is one of these.

BlogHer Live tracking page

Technorati Tags: blogher, bloghercon

I am flying out tomorrow for BlogHer. Have a very reasonable flight, so I get in with enough time to go to the pre-event dinner at Andiamo Cafe.

I'll be event blogging a few sessions while I'm there (full schedule). Both with posts and photos. I might jump between sessions to catch as much as possible, but know for sure I'll be photoblogging the following:

Session #1: Blogging 101
Session #2: How to Be Naked
Session #3: Blogging for Business
Session #4: MommyBlogging

I'll be posting up some stuff here on Qumana as I go along, and of course I have some great new business cards to hand out. We went with a 2 sided model this time around, so we could point people to download QumanaLE and Lektora for free. Can't wait!

Technorati Tags: blogher, bloghercon

Technorati Tags: http://www.technorati.com/tags/blogher, http://www.technorati.com/tags/bloghercon

Technorati Tags : Blogma, CNET, John+Roberts, Steve+Rubel, Bloggers+Blog

Sharon Housely at FeedForAll makes a good argument that RSS make the biggest splash for enterprise users.

The most simple explanation: it's a pull medium. People, in this case consumers, can select which content they want to receive. This pull for content will keep the case for good quality high and the hard sell low - after all, you can just as easily hit unsubscribe.

Although I seriously do not agree with some of Sharon's assumptions (that without monetizing blogs, bloggers will abandon them and the blogosphere as we know it will die), I will pull out those tidbits which are significant. That companies are increasingly finding value in the medium of RSS and that this trend will continue (although not, as Sharon thinks, to the detriment of personal blogging).

As businesses adopt RSS and consumers experiment with feeds, the popularity of RSS will grow. Ultimately, consumers are the driving force behind technology. The convenience of RSS and increased popularity will set a precedent for consumer expectations. Businesses using RSS as a communication vehicle are able to create keyword-rich, themed content, establishing trust, reputation, and ongoing communication with current and prospective customers...

Consumer expectation will drive businesses that are slow to adopt. Ultimately, RSS will be a standard, like email addresses and websites are now a "must" for businesses. RSS feeds will join their ranks.

Blogs and RSS propose a challenge to companies to drop the old way of thinking and to adopt a different approach to communications. An open sharing of information, insight and perspective. It is an inexpensive tool in the communications toolbox that for now provides significant business benefits but that will, in time, be less of an option and more of a requirement for business success.

via Sally Falkow

Technorati Tags: blogging, monetization, communications, rss