I understand the appeal in reading blogs written by women. They are honest, raw and often explore deep emotional topics in a way that other media outlets can't or won't touch. Women can write about issues with a rawness that people relate to. So many things in our world today are 'packaged' and lack authenticity, but this is not an issue for female bloggers and it is core to what keeps bringing readers back.
Recently, San Francisco played host to BlogHer '08, where over one-thousand female bloggers and a handful (literally) of guys, including myself, collected for all things “blogging.” It was, frankly, a bit intimidating. Was I invading female-only territory? Would anyone speak with me? Would there be a hazing ritual?
It was my first BlogHer conference and uncharacteristically I approached it with loose objectives. “Take an open mind and learn” was my game plan, and I am glad it was. I must admit that I found myself to be a bit nervous. I'm not even a blogger by any strict definition. What the hell was I doing here?
Turns out, my self-produced anxiety and fears were unfounded. All, and I mean all, of the the women were very welcoming of my presence at their event. In fact, they seemed encouraged by my presence and genuine interest and reasons for attending. Other men I spoke with echoed similar sentiments.
First impression when I walked into the main event room was that there was a lot of power brought together here, the “bottom-up grassroots power-to-the-people” kind. I am not the first to recognize that women blogers are an influential group, but to see so many assembled together, interacting, writing, hugging, laughing, snapping pictures, and twittering leaves you with a strong impression that these women are tuned in, vibrant and expressive.
Another significant impression is how diverse the group is in every way -- racially, sexuality, style, parents or not, appearance -- except their gender. They are not a segment of society, they represent all of our society. And as a part of it, they have created a very tight-knit community with a common interest. Many know each other very well from reading their respective blog posts and comments. They are supportive and very comfortable challenging one another. And if you think about it, these are very healthy characteristics for a community.
Part of the community's strength is that there are many leaders, some formal and many more informal. This conference's organizers Lisa Stone, Elisa Camahort Page and Jory Des Jardins deserve a lot of credit for putting together a successful event. They are smart enough to know that there's enough talent and interesting people attending that they don't need to be in the spotlight. They kicked things off, kept them going, and stayed out of the way.
Unique and brilliant and it worked. It was a great experience, I learned a lot and will go again.
Here's the NY Times' take on the event, Blogging’s Glass Ceiling
Next month I will share my impressions and evaluation as business marketer.
