Who You Calling MommyBlogger? The Web's Most Influential and Diverse Community Begs You to Stop Generalizing - Jory Des Jardins - MediaBizBlogger

Four years ago when my partners and I built the very first conference for women bloggers we set out to find three women to lead a breakout session we had entitled simply quotMommyBloggingquot I then an unmarried childless business blogger in Silicon Valley remember thinking to myself quotDo they really want to call themselves MommyBloggersquotIt was a moot question At the end of that first event one blogger stood up and declared quotMommyBlogging is a radical actquot a clarion call to women everywhere who wondered whether their digital childrearing chronicles were meaningless to anyone but their close friends Shortly after the event the requests came in from brands and agencies How do we reach these women My partner Lisa Stone wrote up a nice history of how this group evolved in our communityToday I39m thinking that the Time Magazine person of the year should be quotThe MommyBloggerquot These women one of whom tells me she used to receive threatening comments on her blog suggesting nobody would ever want to hear about her selfabsorbed life ended up comprising the largest contingent at our conferenceand is the most common segment that event sponsors ask to reach So many MommyBloggers come to our conference that we had to accommodate the cohort with a whole track addressing their macro issues such as online privacy and making money and more niche topics such as blogging about children with disabilitiesAs our online network grew Moms became the largest segment In a 2008 study comparing the readers of BlogHer Network bloggers versus the general population of US women online 46 of the 36 million women who actively blog every week have children living at home Among Gen Xers who blog the percentage increases to 67 They trend above the general population in education household income and online spending And a critical fact about these women They trust each other Sixty four percent of these power influencers bought a product based on a fellow blogger39s recommendationAnd corporate America noticed Companies such as PampampG GM Kraft Clorox WalMart and countless others have sought MommyBloggers for their insights and online advocacy PR agencies such as Fleishman Hilliard BursonMarsteller and Ketchum have established Momfocused practices and research Marketing consultancies focused on parents are practically powered by MommyBloggers a group that is nothing if not open with their feedback and willingness to spread the word about things they love and don39t love Media companies that cater to women avoid this group at their peril Online stalwarts such as iVillage a portfolio company of one of my company39s investors GE expanded their parenting coverage by building Momtourage and nonparenting media orgs such as Time Warner and Nervecom spun off new sites focused on moms who are onlineIronically at this height of appreciation many women who blog about parenting have become tired of the wellworn if lucrative moniker quotMommyBloggerquotquotMommyBlogger is condescending and makes me want to throw a temper tantrumquot said Sarah Gilbert replying via Twitter to my request for opinions Though trying to be PC about what to call this group can be a bit like deciding between tomato and tomahtoe quotblogging mamasquot is Gilbert39s preferenceIt would seem that the community itself has not come to agreement on a term A few months ago a discussion about the word MommyBlogger revealed a general sentiment in the community Sure Mommy is a buttonpushing term but considering the opportunity it attracts it39s tolerablequotMommyBlogger is on my biz card I don39t mind it at allquot said a blogger that I met last year while sitting on a MommyBlogging panel This stayathome mother of three boys who was seven months pregnant with a daughter at the time secured personal sponsorship from two Fortune 100 companies to attend the BlogHer3908 conferenceStill for some MommyBloggers the term feels like a branding noose detracting from how they would like to be perceived as writersquotWhen the mainstream media talks about 39mommybloggers39 it39s often meant to refer to a group of stayathome mothers who in their spare time write about the trials of motherhood Some of us fit into that category but there39s a lot of shortsightedness if people think that39s all that 39mommybloggers39 arequot said Joanne Bamberger a writer with BlogHer Huffington Post and her own political blog PuditMom in a guest piece she wrote on ZDnet The decidedly techier crowd on this site responded to her thoughts with tongueclucking dismissalSaid one commenterquot Are you ashamed at being a mommy or a blogger Small minds are generally offended by wordsquotThis reaction in the Blogosphere is not unlike what Paris Hilton receives from professional navel gazers Attention cuts both ways if you make a living under a labelamp8212be it quotsocialitequot or quotMommyBloggerquotamp8212you have to take the lumps with the limelightBut what if you39re not quotmaking a livingquot While many MommyBloggers monetize their sites through advertising or occasional consulting only a small percentage is getting wealthy from it Most of the diehard daily writers are covering their costs and perhaps the monthly grocery bills but they do it because they are addicted to the community and the outlet blogging provides for personal expressionAnd while these women may break into diatribes about poopy diapers there is no standard content formula for the Grade A MommyBlogger Rita Arens Mommy and Family Contributing Editor for BlogHercom wrote of a trend she was noticing among the quotfirst wavequot MommyBloggers who have been active online for three or more years a pullingback on parenting content as interests changed and as kids got older and their privacy became more of a concernSays one bloggerquotI initially thought my 39Therapy on a Budget39 would largely consist of horrific tales of motherhood Then I realized my kids don39t make me as crazy as I think they do In fact as they get older they do less and less that makes me want to sit in a corner and hum 39The Chipmunk Song39 for hours on end I find I write more and more about life in general Work Marriage My neurotic thoughtsSays anotherquotI don39t have a 39typical39 Mommyblog is there such thing that focuses only on my kids I write about addiction writing freelance work PTA sex and the random silliness of my own life However after almost 6 years blogging Mommyblogging is my brandquotAlas the Blogosphere39s most marketable and exponentially growing demographic is also the hardest to pin down Four years after hunting for our first MommyBloggers to lead a session we weren39t sure people would show up for we are still learning what we did when looking at that packed room full of moms from every walk of life MommyBloggers are just like womenamp8230diverse individualistic and too powerful to ignoreBlogHerCompass Partners Benchmark Study March 2008 quotActive bloggingquot defined as women who both write and participate in blog discussionsAs cofounder and President of Strategic Alliances for BlogHer Jory Des Jardins is an innovator in online advertising women39s media and Internet entrepreneurship Jory can be contacted at jorybloghercom Read all Joryamp8217s MediaBizBlogger commentaries at Jory Des Jardin MediaBizBlogger

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Who You Calling MommyBlogger? The Web's Most Influential and Diverse Community Begs You to Stop Generalizing - Jory Des Jardins - MediaBizBlogger

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Who You Calling MommyBlogger? The Web's Most Influential and Diverse Community Begs You to Stop Generalizing - Jory Des Jardins - MediaBizBlogger

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