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.
Technorati Tags: blogher, bloghercon
