Worker Bees Blog

The BlogHer Consumer Electronics Study: How Women Shop for Tech

2012-01-16T08:51:00.000-08:00

I can't believe I forgot to post this here last week when we released it. I guess I was caught in the CES whirlwind.

So, BlogHer released the latest in our series of proprietary research studies, this time digging into women's perspectives on purchasing consumer electronics devices. We surveyed a BlogHer Network sample and a general population sample to see how those two groups are align and differ. As has been the case for quite some time, the two samples were directionally very similar, differing by degree more than by fundamental perspective or motivation.

The key findings include:

-I know amazing TVs were a centerpiece of CES this year, but women consider TV to be a distant third-place on the hierarchy of indispensable devices. We know we can get entertainment, communication and productivity out of single devices now, and they top our priority list.

-Women continue to identify peer advice and recommendations online as both reliably informational and highly influential. Meanwhile, we continue to turn to manufacturer and retail sites for specs and information, but do not consider that information to be influential to the final decision. Out last two studies have been on fairly technical verticals (automotive and now consumer electronics) and this distinction was stark in both studies: Manufacturer sites were a top information source, but ranked last or next-to-last for influence. You know what else continues to not get much traction as a marketing approach? Celebrity endorsements and "woman-y" products. We just like things super-fast, super-functional, and super-simple.

-Finally, there were some interesting stats about mobile usage...some surprising, some not. Mobile apps aren't yet making a dent as a top information source for tech purchases, but people are clearly reviewing online content about such purchases on their mobiles. It's a huge factor so your content better look and function well.

One other stat that I personally found very interesting was in how different groups identify themselves as shoppers. Now the #1 answer across all groups gender, age, race) is still "Price-Conscious". Clearly we are still concerned about the economy and tech devices are still a serious purchase and serious investment. But 50% of African Americans self-identify as either "early adopters" (defined as pre-ordering or buying day one) or "leading edge" adopters (defined as waiting to make sure there are no catastrophic bugs before buying). This is significantly higher than any other group. Combined with the fact that 70% of AfAms report using a mobile during the tech purchase process, and you get a picture of a highly connected highly tech-savvy population.

Anyway, I hope you will review the study, we think it reinforces a message that manufacturers and retailers still don't seem to fully embrace: Women are buying tech devices, and women want to hear from people they trust about how those devices work. And the people they trust aren't corporate spokespeople. They're "people like me".

Twitter vs. Google: Clash of the big babies

2012-01-11T21:08:00.000-08:00

Today I had a little Twitter rant about Twitter's problem with Google's announcement about their search changes.

It went like this:

Elisa Camahort @ElisaC12h

Gut reaction is: @twitter is being a baby. They have WORST SEARCH possible for their own product. Why should @google be their search b*tch?

Elisa Camahort @ElisaC12h

We all know @google algorithms for ranking is proprietary & can change on whim, right? If their results sucked they wouldn't be dominant.

Elisa Camahort @ElisaC12h

I would use @twitter search (and did use @summize). It's a JOKE how ridic Twitter search is. And they have no one to blame but themselves.

Elisa Camahort @ElisaC12h

#GoogleTwitterBreakUp#HeyGoogleTwitterStaycivilforthekidsplease

I don't have too much more to say about it.

I may be a Twitterholic, but I've also always been pretty underwhelmed by Twitter's customer service. They ruined search, and they're completely unresponsive to people trying to talk to them via their own tool. Frankly, they ignore support issues via email too.

So, my sympathy level? Low.

but you could probably tell that.

PSA: Blogging is not just what you do.

2012-01-01T09:06:00.000-08:00

As the year draws to an end, it stirs a natural impulse to review and reflect. Analyze and assess. And being human, and therefore naturally self-absorbed, it is also natural to make the most common of blogging faux pas. it goes like this:

I used to have a joke: Everyone thinks "real" blogging is how *they* blog.

Today my joke would be: Everyone thinks that how their own blogging has evolved is how all of blogging has evolved.

The posts about the end of tech blogging as we know it. The posts about returning to blogging, unsatisfied by the snack-sized communication in other forums. You may have read them, but then again, maybe you haven't. It's entirely possible that such posts were written in the echo chamber of other old-timey bloggers like me, who are often mostly paying attention to each other!

So, here are two data points to chew on.

1. According to comScore, the aggregate traffic to "blogs" has increased year over year the past two years at the same rate as the aggregate traffic to "social networks". Now, I get that "social networks" probably is made up of Facebook and a handful of other sites, while "blogs" represents hundreds of thousands of sites, but the point remains: Blog reading is up (and likely ever more disaggregated across the long tail). But this may not be visible to early blog proponents.

Sources:

Check out Slide 7 of BlogHer's 2011 annual social media study for the comScore stat for the previous twelve months.

You can also check out Slide 8 of BlogHer's 2010 annual social media study for the same comparison for the previous twelve months, but be forewarned, that's a big ole' PDF file.

2. According to Pew, it's entirely true that teenagers don't blog anymore, and adult Millennials show a slight decline in blogging. But every older generation, GenX, Boomer and Senior, shows an increased rate of blogging. (In fact, blogging has increased overall for adults 18+.)

Some have proclaimed this to mean that blogging is dying, but I think it means something quite different: We simply have better tools now for small talk and chatter and transactional connections and activity. Remember how everyone used to joke about not wanting to read blogs because they didn't care what you had for lunch? Well, that joke's about Twitter now. And Facebook. And so on.

[Side note and off my main point: I think we *do* care what our friends had for lunch. And what the weather is like where they are. And how their mood is in general. That's called small talk, and humans do it. We do it in person, and we do it online.]

I think it's pretty natural that as your life goes on, and inevitably gets more complicated, that you look for more outlets for self-expression and more ways to codify your life. Some of those complications may be about career...advancing your career by advancing your ideas. Some of those complications may be about personal life...more relationships, from partners to children to in-laws to parents. Some of those complications may be about the world...more opinions, more passions, more causes.

So, simple stuff has a better outlet now, and it's not blogging (and in case you haven't noticed, it has a real tendency to get broadcast-y...Twitter, I'm talking to you!). I've said it before, and I'll say it again now: Blogging remains the place where substantive conversations can and do happen.

Blogging isn't dying, nor being reborn. Blogging is steady as she goes.

It just may not be where you're used to looking for it. And it may not be about the same things, or by the same people you're used to reading.

The 2005 exhortation to look for new voices that spurred the founding of BlogHer is just as relevant today. Widen your circle, you might be surprised!

I'm speaking at the 92nd Street Y, with a panel of accomplished women

2011-12-30T09:47:00.001-08:00

If you're a New Yorker, or ever have been one, the 92nd Street Y is pretty much iconic.

It's where smart people go talk and smart people listen. You could probably say it's the ultimate intelligentsia destination, and since I'm someone who actually values academics, scholars, artists, and the intelligentsia, the Y is a big deal.

And I'm going to represent BlogHer and moderate a panel of accomplished women there this February 16th.

I know, right? I'm pretty stoked, to use one of the least intellectual words in my vocabulary.

If you check out the link, you'll see the line-up is STELLAR:

Sarah Brokaw, who was amazing at BlogHer this summer, and is author of an inspiring manifesto for women, Fortytude
Ree Drummond, she of Pioneer Woman fame (and NYT bestselling author)
Kathryn Finney, aka The Budget Fashionista
Karen Amster Young and Pam Godwin, the daring women behind 52Weeks.com

Ree and Kathryn were among our inaugural BlogHer Pathfinders at our inaugural Pathfinder Day, helping women see their path towards creating their own media "empire".

This panel will be all about the risks and rewards that we face when forging new paths. The common threads of self-expression, challenging one's self, and passing along the knowledge and wisdom we pick up along the way, weave through all of their stories, and I'm looking forward to bringing that to the 92nd Street Y's stage in February.

I can giveaway a complimentary pair of tickets, so if you're a New Yorker (or close enough) and share what question you'd most like me to ask these panelists, I'll pick a winner at random.

Come on, make my job easier: What do you want to know?

BlogHer and partner Lisa Stone on NPR's Tell Me More

2011-12-27T13:01:00.000-08:00

Nice shout-out to Lisa, and her place on Working Mother Media's "Most Powerful Moms" list at about 4:50 in this podcast:

Jory and Lisa are both on the list, and both in good company.

Steve Jobs, Apple and the intersection of "censorship" and capitalism

2011-11-27T10:54:00.000-08:00

I just finished reading the Steve Jobs biography this morning. It's a good read. Jobs was a fascinating character. I took a few lessons away about focus, more than anything, but very little about how to interact with people. Let's face it, Jobs was not someone I'd want to emulate in the people skills department, mostly because I think if you're really genius you can probably build successful products and companies without being a near-sociopath.

But there was one passage in the book which reminded me of one of my absolute pet peeves, namely the way people mis-use "censorship".

Ever since BlogHer.com was launched in January 2006 we have had a set of community and editorial guidelines. These guidelines tell the world what kind of online space we strive to make BlogHer. And we enforce those guidelines, including the part where our community managers decide when a line has been crossed from healthy debate and criticism into hate speech, epithets or other unacceptable content. We consider it our job as an online publisher to set (and publish) those guidelines, enforce them fairly, and we consider ourselves to be responsible for the tone and community that forms within those guidelines.

My BlogHer co-founders and I have often stated that we don't believe there should be one code of conduct for the entire Internet, but rather that every publisher online is responsible for their own code of conduct.

In other words, I couldn't agree more with Anil Dash who says: "If your website's full of assholes, it's your fault."

There are people who will call it "censorship" if you don't allow certain content, anything from hate speech to commercial pitches (aka spam) on your site. I think that's utter BS.

There is also the chance that some folks won't like where we or any other publisher draws the line of "unacceptable content", that some will disagree about whether guidelines are enforced fairly.

I once quit a forum for this reason. One of my postings got dinged and removed, and I really didn't see the difference between what I posted and what other members of the forum regularly posted. I didn't stop to get into a lengthy argument with the moderator about it; I just thought "meh, this forum isn't for me", and I found some place else to go talk about whatever it was I wanted to talk about.

That continues to be the beauty of the Internet: No more gatekeepers...create your own platform or find your tribe of other like-minded folks. Not every site has to cater to you, and on the other hand a site that doesn't cater to anybody will fail.

So, circling back to Steve Jobs, Apple and what qualifies as "censorship"

The quote that chapped my hide came in reference to Apple's policies about what kind of apps may be sold in their App Store.:

"Still, there was something unnerving about Apple's decreeing that those who bought their products shouldn't look at controversial political cartoons or, for that matter, porn."

That from author Isaacson himself. Plus there was a quote from the site eSarcasm.com:

"Either that, or we just enjoy the idea of an uncensored open society where a techno-dictator doesn't decide what we can and cannot see."

Excuse me?

The iPhone (and then the iPad) was the first to deliver an actual pleasant browsing experience on a mobile device. The iPad is in fact such a wonderful browsing device that many sites, like BlogHer, don't even auto-switch to their m.site version for it, giving visitors the full web experience.

So, do Apple devices block certain sites from your browser?

No. No, they do not. Go browse all the porn and politics you so desire. On the vast open Internet. If you feel that browser-based access to any kind of content on the entire Internet is not sufficient and that you must have access to certain apps that Apple doesn't allow in its stores, then no one is forcing you or anyone to buy an iDevice and use the Apple App Store. Apple has a right, and I would say the obligation, to set the guidelines for their store, and you have the right not to want to shop within those guidelines. The market will decide, right?

I just hate messy arguments, and this one is messy. Don't be the boy who cried "censorship".

Some discounts for you on my next couple NYC speaking gigs

2011-10-05T09:25:00.001-07:00

I'm going to NYC three times within four weeks in October/November. (Yes, I thought about just living there for a month, but it didn't work.)

Among the many fun-filled activities I have planned, I'm speaking at two conferences offering discounts to you, my readers. (Also, to any other speakers readers. And in one case, also to every single BlogHer community member.)

So, here's the scoop:

1. Web 2.0 Expo in NYC, October 10-13
Use the code 'webny11fos' and get 25% off registration.

As always the Web 2.0 conference features a series of web luminaries on its roster. What am I speaking about? Well, it's a new topic for me: I'm going to give a presentation on how to mine your community for more than just brand fans, but for actual full-time employees. When I look over the list of BlogHer's 60 employees, I'm proud of how many we came to know because they were BlogHer community members. And the interesting thing is that this applies not to just folks working in expected areas, like social media execution itself but also, for example, our in-house contracts counsel. A lawyer and a food blogger!

2. PivotCon in NYC, October 17-18
Use the code 'BlogHer30' and get 30% off registration.

I'm speaking on a panel about the new influencers, and I'm just a little stoked because my panel immediately follows Counting Crows frontman Adam Duritz speaking on building new relationships between artists and fans. Don't think it's too often I get to be in the same conference roster with someone in my iTunes rotation.

check out both these events in the next couple weeks and come say "hi!"

Term sheet advice for entrepreneurs from GigaOm

2011-09-25T13:22:00.001-07:00

GigaOm features a good, nuts and bolts article on the Top 5 things you should know about term sheets today.

They cite:
1. Valuation
2. Resetting vesting
3. Liquidation preferences
4. Protective provisions
5. Expanding the options pool

And they provide good basic info about what to expect and what to look for.

I would only add this: When BlogHer was looking for its first round of funding, Lisa Stone and I met with entrepreneur Caterina Fake (she of Flickr and Hunch fame). She shared some timeless advice with us that I reference all the time, and cite as the single most useful piece of advice I ever got. Her advice was to prioritize:

People
Terms
Valuation

Meaning:

Before you take a dime, hey, for that matter...before you partner or hire, you better make sure you trust the people involved, that you feel they get you. Perhaps even more importantly, you want them to trust *you*, to respect what you have built. Finally, they should bring value beyond the money...strategic insight, key industry connections, you name it. You're getting hitched, make sure it's a relationship that can last and thrive.

To understand Terms over Valuation as a priority, read the GigaOm post. Hearing high valuation numbers can put stars in your eyes, but as the cliche goes: It's better to walk away with a reasonable chunk of a smaller exit than to have a high exit out of which you get nothing. Usually, if not always, higher valuations come at the sacrifice of favorable terms for the founders and common shareholders. Know what you're signing up for and protect your interests. A valuation does not an exit price guarantee, so don't be seduced!

So there are your weekend words of wisdom!

Gut reaction to Facebook Timeline

2011-09-24T15:40:00.000-07:00

A friend just let me log on to her Facebook, so I could check out folks with Timeline enabled. Here was my gut reaction to her, after noting that it was indeed more visually appealing than Facebook had ever looked before:

I think that they're biting off more than we as users want to chew. It's too much; it's overwhelming; and seems too complicated to manage. Everything I hate about FB amplified, but prettier.

Here's how social media use breaks down for me:
Pinterest and Instagram: Look at pretty things from people I like
Twitter: Make small talk with friends and see what's hot and trending
Blogs and Google+: Have substantive conversations of my choice with people of my choice
StumbleUpon, Delicious: Share things I like

With the latter function also being part of why people use Pinterest, blogs and Google+.

Facebook is now, what? Hard to follow and still hard to connect dots. But now about EVERYTHING you can possibly imagine. I run away just looking at it :)

I don't know...sometimes more is less. That's my gut reaction.

And her response?

That’s exactly the problem with Facebook. Some of us can look at it and see a world of opportunity but others… just see chaos – pretty, pretty chaos, lol.

I know statistically almost every online adult is touching Facebook at least once a week. more than any other social media service. Next year when BlogHer does its annual study I want to delve into love and hate, though. I know more people who use FB yet seem to hate it. That would be me. Can't deny I'm there probably at least once a day. But almost under duress.

The question is whether there will ever be an *anti*-tipping point for Facebook?

Marketing: If You Can't Say Something Nice...

2011-09-11T20:31:00.000-07:00

I think I'm old-school.

Perhaps I've missed some new data or wisdom.

Suddenly I see anti-marketing cropping up, and I find myself wrinkling my nose like the Queen of England smelling something bad.

What do I mean when I say "Anti-marketing"? I mean marketing based on criticizing your competitors instead of touting your own accomplishments, features, benefits or advantages.

So, instead of Avis's famous "We're #2 we try harder", in anti-marketing land they might have gone with "We're not like *other* (unnamed, but totally obvious) car rental companies that have [insert lame policy here]!"

One of the most prominent anti-marketing campaigns I've seen in the last year has been Box.net's ads that exist solely to say they're not Sharepoint. I'm hardly the only person to notice the campaign being negative, and to complain that it didn't really tell me why I should care about Box.net. In fact, truth is: We're a Box.net user and all those negative billboards and ads did was make me think I should check out Sharepoint to see what all the fuss was about!

My advice is to stop after you've touted what is awesome, unique and amazing about you and your offering. You don't have to be coy about it. And you don't have to give your prospects any funny ideas. If they've been checking out your competitors, they'll know that the benefits you're describing are different or better. If they haven't been checking them out, they probably won't even start, hearing how awesome, unique and amazing you are!

If you feel the need to follow up with a thinly veiled reference to who or what you are not, maybe you're not proud enough of who or what you are.

Just to be fair: I realize this post could be considered a total example of me being all thinly-veiled myself, so I will say it was the Box.net billboards cropping up last year that started me thinking about this subject, but it's the marketing that goes on in the social media space that keeps me thinking about it! And challenges me always to remember: Anti-marketing won't fix lack of differentiation...or unclear articulation of differentiation.

It's a small world. Most industries are small industries. Today's competition may be tomorrow's collaborator, both at the individual and organizational level. And I'm an old-fashioned marketer who doesn't want to tear others down to build my brand.

Am I impossibly old-school? Missing the boat? Shooting myself in the foot?

My immediate, gut reaction to the news about Steve Jobs

2011-08-24T17:28:00.000-07:00

As posted on Google+:

I'm really sad about Steve Jobs. Sad because of what I assume it means. Sad for him and his family. Sad for the rest of us, almost all of whom have benefitted from his genius, even if you aren't a Macolyte like me. (I converted pretty late myself, at the age of 39.)

Sad because, while I believe Apple will survive and continue to thrive, Jobs is an inspirational and iconic figure in the Valley...a symbol of the great come-back, the wronged entrepreneur who proved the others wrong, a symbol of rewarding risk-taking and genius, not only bottom-line thinking. Is everything he symbolizes accurately describe or define everything he is? Well, most of us can never know.

But symbols are about meaning, not pure facts. Sigh.

I also want to share this post from TechCrunch: The End of an Era.

As I said on Twitter, it's not often that TC features beautiful writing. And I don't think I ever remember it making me cry. That post does.

We're also collecting reactions over at BlogHer.

And finally, Anil Dash posted a provocative post about Jobs, his background and his business acumen last week. It's relevant, perhaps surprising, and a good homage.

I'm hoping for the best for Jobs and his family. What else can we do?

Tory Johnson's got it right!

2011-08-22T14:55:00.000-07:00

In her latest newsletter Tory Johnson, business and media diva, talks about her vacation, and about not 100% unplugging. And she describes it like this:

Many of you emailed to tell me to stop working. But the truth is, I'd rather cut back than cut off. Not being connected and in touch is more stressful than reducing my work and doing what's needed from a distance.

That's me. That's exactly how I feel. Do I always balance it exactly right? Probably not. But I'd rather stay in touch than totally unplug too.

Of course I wrote about this on BlogHer last year, with me taking the "stay in touch" side and partner Lisa Stone talking about her radical form of unplugging. (Radical to me, that is.)

I just wanted to share that somebody out there sees my side, and doesn't think it's just a sign of rampant workaholism.

What do you think?

BlogHer|bet is this week: A live virtual conference pass is available!

2011-03-19T09:25:00.000-07:00

This week the inaugural BlogHer|bet Conference is happening. The "bet" stands for "Business, Entrepreneurism, Technology", and the conference targets women who have a big idea in tech or media and want to take it to the next level.

For some women, that means going out on their own and starting a business.
For some women, that means figuring out how to get their idea heard in a corporate environment.
For some women, that means taking their existing small business and scaling it up...via funding, via partnerships...whatever it takes.

We have tracks of programming covering all the most important issues any such women should be thinking about:

The Business track will cover How To Lead Developers (especially if you aren't one), How To Manage Up (to get your ideas heard and acted upon) and How To Think About "Brand" (especially when your idea is so new, there is no brand).

The Entrepreneurism track will cover The Deck, The Term Sheet and The Exit. That kind of says it all...these are the tools you'll be working with, and this is the stuff you need to know to go out there. No one will look out for your interests better than you, so understanding the jargon, and the meaning behind it, is critical.

The Technology track will cover the three areas of tech that anyone launching a new tech or media concept needs to be on top of: User Interface and Experience, Mobile Distribution and Promotion and Online Measurement and Monitoring.

There are a couple of great keynote sessions too, featuring women talking about leadership and how to demonstrate it, even if you only have one minute to make a mark.

And we'll close out the day by letting four great organizations show the women in the room their options to take the next step. We are proud to have the founders of Astia, J-LAB, the Pipeline Fund and Women 2.0 present their organizations. But more than that: Each of these organizations are bringing someone with them. They're each bringing a woman who has gone through their program and can talk about what it was like, how it helped them and what success has looked like for them.

Perhaps the most important part of the day, though, will be the morning. For two hours over 50 amazing women leaders, from across tech and media, have agreed to sit down for two hours and meet two different women, one-on-one and face-to-face, for one hour each to provide their advice and counsel on specific business issues the attendees are facing.

Who are these role models? They are women who fund and acquire businesses. They are women that have been through the start-up wars themselves and lived to tell the tale. They are women who are tasked with leading large companies into new areas and new directions. They are women who are on top of the latest trends and business considerations. Seriously, check out the speaker list...it's crazy the level of talent coming to share their time and wisdom.

We have been working on this event for the last six months, and I cannot wait to see it come to fruition this Thursday.

I can't wait to thank the mentors, in person, for walking the walk to help women succeed.

I can't wait to thank the attendees, for taking a chance on a new event and taking a chance on their own big idea.

I can't wait to thank the sponsors, particularly our host sponsors Microsoft and Cisco, without whom we never could have launched this new event.

I can't wait to see it all come together.

If you're interested in seeing it too, there are two options:

Live and in person: While we're technically sold out, several attendees are there to support women, but not to get mentored. So we have exactly five slots still open to go through the full conference experience, including being matched with a mentor. You can register here.

Live and online: We're working with start-up WMBLY to power a Virtual Conference Pass. During the conference on Friday you can watch all the programming sessions and keynotes via live-stream...and participate in a live-chat while doing so. The videos will remain available for 60 days after the conference.

You can also wait until after the conference and buy a pass to view the videos for 60-days. That saves you $10. (Although I think the $10 is worth it to be able to pop pin during the actual day and watch live...and interact with others doing so in the live chat).

So, will I see you there...in person or online?

We think you should bet on yourself...and your big idea...and make it!

Rewriting the New York Times Headline: Blog Use Wanes Amongst Teenagers

2011-02-22T17:00:00.000-08:00

Cross-posted from BlogHer.com

Today BlogHer was pleased to be quoted in a New York Times article by reporter Verne Kopytoff, provocatively entitled: Blogs Wane as the Young Drift to Sites Like Twitter.

The article was prompted by a recent Pew Report from late last year entitled Generations 2010.

Here's the interesting thing: Blog use is indeed significantly down amongst teenagers. Half as many "blog" now versus in 2006. And those in the 18-33 cohort show about a 2% decline. Yet more of those who are 34+ are blogging, leading to an overall increase. Yes, despite the headline (which, let's acknowledge: The reporter probably didn't write) there has been about a 25% increase in number of "all adults online" who blog.

Hmm.

When I was asked to comment on BlogHer's perspective on the Pew report, I shared four main points:

Blogs are where meaty conversations happen

Bloggers use other social networking tools to bring more people to their blogs

Blogs are the only tool that is going to help you be found with your message even just a few days later

Blog use is actually rising amongst adults 34 and older, including women in their prime career and family-raising years

Kopytoff focused on the first point above, from our conversation. Pulling this quote:

Indeed, small talk shifted in large part to social networking, said Elisa Camahort Page, co-founder of BlogHer, a women’s blog network. Still, blogs remain a home of more meaty discussions, she said.

“If you’re looking for substantive conversation, you turn to blogs,” Ms. Camahort Page said. “You aren’t going to find it on Facebook, and you aren’t going to find it in 140 characters on Twitter.”

Apparently, Toni Schneider from Automattic agrees with my second point above about how we bloggers use social networking tools to promote our work on our blogs, because he made the point very well:

In any case, he said bloggers often use Facebook and Twitter to promote their blog posts to a wider audience. Rather than being competitors, he said, they are complementary.

“There is a lot of fragmentation,” Mr. Schneider said. “But at this point, anyone who is taking blogging seriously — they’re using several mediums to get a large amount of their traffic.”

I'm not surprised Kopytoff didn't cite my third point about the usefulness of these media as marketing tools. This article doesn't talk at all about the use of blogs in this way, only as a self-expression tool. If, however, you want to see some outside validation of that position, I suggest you read this detailed post by Stacie Tamaki about how her blog is the only tool that gives her search engine juice. If you want to be found by customers, it ain't gonna happen via Facebook:

A

s a user of all three mediums I often see friends, particularly small business owners and advocates, only publicizing content to their existing friends on Facebook or Twitter. The same information on a blog would receive far more exposure and that's (imo) one of the main reasons to market at all:

1. To help people (clients, supporters and enthusiasts) who didn't know about you to discover you.

2. To reinforce your brand to people who may have heard of you but haven't connected with you yet.

3. To keep supporters updated so that they can help you by sharing information with others who would be interested to know about you.

Finally: The headline is indeed provocative, but a bit misleading. A more accurate headline for the article would have been "Blogs Wane Amongst the Young As They Drift To Sites Like Twitter." The article itself definitely makes this point at the very end of the piece, stating that blog use is rising in adults over 34 (5-6%)... rising more than it's waning in the 18-33 cohort (-2%).

It's only among actual teenagers that there has been a significant drop.

But the goal for using social media at all amongst teenagers is still weighted heavily towards "keeping in touch with friends and family," which we know from our own research Facebook has taken over from blogs, and serves as its main function.

Despite the provocative headline, this story is actually more measured than a lot of the "blogs are dying" pronouncements we've seen since the Pew report. So, I appreciate that.

But as someone who is 34+, I have to say nothing can make you feel more obsolete than realizing that the habits and behaviors of your entire cohort -- of people spanning more than 30 years in ages, and across three generations (Gen X, Young Boomers and Older Boomers) -- is meaningless in the face of what those young 'uns do.

And if I were such a young 'un?

I wouldn't appreciate the assumption that somehow my online behaviors and needs will stay static. That I'd never develop a desire or need to present my work via a professional platform. Or want to support a cause or political stance via a social change platform. Or need to pull together a support community around me while going through something as universal as parenting, via a personal platform.

I don't buy it for a second. Do you?

Geoff Livingston goes after "vote for me" syndrome

2010-12-29T11:11:00.000-08:00

On a blog devoted to Bad Pitches, Geoff Livingston explains why he won't be voting for all the people begging him for votes...for conference panels, for blog awards, for "influencer" lists, and so on.

He says: "For the magazines or products behind it, this is complete self-promotion--and for the request-makers, it feels like desperation!"

I do feel his pain, absolutely.

Not even bringing up their egregious Influence Project, but when Fast Company decided to shift from doing their own reporting and homework to name their "Top 25 Women in Tech", as they've done for the past two years, to running a popularity contest instead, I was deeply disappointed. Traditional media goes on and on about the value of "real" journalists and "real" journalism, But I guess they discovered the lure of getting others to do the work for them...and of racking up meaningless, valueless page views in so doing. [Full disclosure: BlogHer was on this list the past two years, and I fully expect us to drop right off of it, given we haven't "campaigned" at all.]

But I also know why organizations enable community voting...reasons beyond the obvious answer, which is: Link bait.

Sometimes organizations actually want to honor and act on what their community thinks or likes or supports. And whether you provide a public forum for the community to share such thoughts, or ask for those thoughts in non-public ways, it's unrealistic to think that people won't want their community to support their efforts. For many in the BlogHer community, their communities want to support them...and might feel disappointed not to have the opportunity.

I also know why collecting such support publicly makes sense for organizations. It answers one of social media's clarion calls: Transparency.

But it also can set up popularity contests...which are by very definition exclusionary and antithetical to community-building (if you care about building a diverse community, of course).

Geoff asks for a better way to crowdsource, and I'm with him on that. BlogHer has tried a variety of ways to collect community opinion, and none seem perfect.

But he's also right that the crowd needs to take a harder look at their community and how they communicate with them...because in all likelihood, their community has radically changed since just a few years ago.

Back in the day (oh, say, two-three years ago) your community may have mostly been found via your blog and the blogs of those you followed. I'm not going to get all crotchety old man on you and call it the good old days, particularly since I'm a full-on Twitter fiend, but it is likely that people who read your blog chose when and how to read your blog. Whether they visited your site or subscribed in a reader, blog reading wasn't quite a real-time, always-on kind of activity. And it's quite easy to scan headlines, especially via a reader, and decide what topics interest you and dig deeper to read about them.

Fast forward and now our communities also encompass Twitter and Facebook.And now the headlines pretty much *are* the content, what with that pesky 140 character thing.

And, at least on Twitter, your community is very unlikely to be going to the landing page of each person they follow and see what they're up to one by one...no. They're going to dip their toes into the river of updates coming at them via a Twitter stream or Facebook news feed.

Twitter and Facebook are also both more conducive to casual banter and keeping in touch with those with whom you have looser ties.

If you blog about the contest your blog is participating in and ask your readers for support, you are more likely to be reaching people who have a vested interest in you, your success, your blog, your talent. And let's face it: You'll probably blog it once. Maybe once again when voting comes nearer to a close. You probably take great care that your blog content is of value to the reader community you know you have and balance any self-promotion with a whole lot of the kind of content that got you those loyal readers to begin with.

If you FB or tweet the same plea, however, you're likely reaching that reader community...PLUS a bunch of people who don't really care. I don't mean they don't care in some harsh heartless way, I just mean that they're expecting your banter and bromides in that forum...they may not even really follow the more substantive expressions found on your blog.

And then add this little wrinkle: Because the stream of information is so full and goes by so fast, you start re-tweeting or posting your little plea more often...maybe once a day. What's the harm? OK maybe once for the morning crowd, once for the evening crowd. So what?

Well, before you know it you're begging...frequently and annoyingly. The "harm" is that you've crossed a line into spamming. Maybe not for everyone. And maybe most folks are like me and just turn a blind eye to the content that doesn't interest me. "Take the best; leave the rest", that's my motto.

But it's also likely that a whole lot of your friends, fans, followers and readers think exactly what Geoff is expressing...and just aren't taking the time to tell you or tell the world.

So we, as an organization, keep looking for that better way to crowdsource that Geoff asks for.

But we, the crowd, can also be a part of the problem or the solution.

Which are you?

The early days of Google, and hiring women

2010-12-27T16:10:00.000-08:00

Enjoyed this brief interview with Google's Marissa Mayer in Newsweek.

She was Google's first woman engineer, and she shares a couple of insights about their early days and how they overtly and openly considered and talked about hiring women as an asset and important to their team. They also made sure at least one woman was on every interviewing team...a tactic I absolutely love.

Apparently they didn't worry about securing "diversity instead of quality", which is my number one most-hated straw man argument and bad excuse.

There's a little unintended irony, though, as Mayer talks about not encountering obstacles as a woman engineer in her career. I'm quite sure she didn't (and it didn't hurt to be at one place for virtually all of her adult career, and being engineer #8 to boot).

But right there in the comments of Newsweek, only a half dozen of which are on display on the landing page, you see one comment about her physical attributes and another asserting she got her job because of her looks.

As I tried to say on Facebook, before it cut me off without alerting me that it was going to:

Sad and unsurprising how some of the comments, of course, are talking about Mayer's looks and physical attributes. Mayer says she never encountered obstacles being a woman...and I'm sure in her direct interactions she didn't. But it is an obstacle. It is a problem. It is an issue that no discussion of a prominent woman in tech can happen without this being an accepted part of the discourse. And it is *is* obviously accepted, since it is not deleted.

Mayer estimates the percentage of women engineers at Google is at about 20%. I'm going to guess the percentage of Google users who are women is at about 50%.

This interview, which I generally love, and the ensuing comments, which I do not, are part of the reason BlogHer launched our new conference for women in business and technology.

So, if you're a woman with a big idea in tech or media that you want to see implemented...whether by your own start-up or your place of employment...check out BlogHer|bet (Business, Entrepreneurism, Technology) this March in Silicon Valley. Mentoring, Networking, Programming...all designed to send you out from the conference with your next steps to make your big idea happen.

More info here.

Time Magazine on the "Sheconomy"...was there an "aha moment"?

2010-12-05T17:05:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago Time published a piece: Woman Power: The Rise of the Sheconomy.

The first two pages of the three-page article states something I actually thought was obvious, well-known, old news: Women control household spending. Even in segments thought to be male-oriented...like electronics or car repair.

The third page is about how the advent of social networks has harnessed women's buying power and their natural inclination to compare notes and turned their individual spending power into collective commercial power.

Again, possibly I'm a little more up on that since, well, that empowerment is what BlogHer's publishing network business is partially built around. But even so, I didn't think this was news either.

The description of this intersection is, also not surprisingly, somewhat condescending And more than condescending, Time continues the mainstream media's ongoing habit of focusing on this myth that bloggers are just waiting for the next company to bring down with their "wild west" mob mentality:

"A cross between a girls' night out and the mother of all organizing tools, these networks have given women the kind of muscle that can be a blessing or a bloodbath for those it's flexed upon."

Interesting that Motrin Moms is still the go-to anecdote, given it was two years ago.

Ad it looks like Old Spice may be the positive go-to anecdote for at least that long!

Bottom line: I don't feel I learned something new in the article...and excitement over the "sheconomy" is somewhat tempered by reading a post from six months ago by BlogHer' Feminism editor, Suzanne Reisman: "Why I'm Boycotting the "She-conomy". Turns out that women may indeed be making gains at the top, but we also comprise the majority of those at the bottom of the economic pile.

As Reisman points out:

"I want to be excited about women's economic security, I really do. It's just hard for me to get behind these indicators of progress when they don't include most women. If that's what the "she-conomy" means, I'd rather try and improve the regular economy for everyone."

One week free preview week of Blogging Masters Telesummit

2010-10-30T10:10:00.000-07:00

Last month I was interviewed as one of 13 participants in something called The Blogging Masters Telesummit. We talked about BlogHer, blogging, building online community...we talked about a lot actually!

For one week you can listen to any of the interviews for free at this URL.

Here are all the other participants and their topics:

Denise Wakeman – “The Viral Blogging System: 4 Simple Ways To Multiply Your Blog Content And Spread Your Message Virally Throughout The Web”

Gideon Shalwick - “The 7-Step Video Blogging Blueprint That Helps You Dominate The Search Engines, Drives Massive Traffic To Your Blogs, And Positions You As The Industry Expert”

Jack Humphrey - “How To Become A Local Business Celebrity Through The Power Of Blogging That Attracts All The New Clients, Sales And Partners You Can Handle”

Regina Smola - “How To Secure Your Blogs From Hackers, Spammers, And Viruses That Will Save You Time, Money And Maybe Even Your Business”

Barry Chandler – “How To Use The Power Of Blogging To Quickly Go From Being An Unknown In Your Industry To The Go-To Authority That Everyone Wants to Partner With”

Chris Cree – “The Beehive Method: The New Media Marketing System That Gets New Clients And Prospects Buzzing About You And Swarming To Your Business”

Vinil Ramdev – “How To Quickly And Easily Dominate Your Niche By Creating An ‘Authority Blog’ Without Needing A Big List, A Big Name Or A Big Social Media Following”

Erik Deckers – “The Ghostblogging Method: How To Outsource Your Blogging To Others In Order To Save Time, Get More Clients, And Build Your Blogging Empire”

Kary Rogney – “The Tribe Syndication Method That Builds An Extremely Powerful Blog Following And Drives Massive Amounts Of Traffic To Your Websites”

Bill McRea – “The 5 Step Autoblogging System That Quickly Multiplies Your Blog Marketing Empire And Makes You Money On Autopilot”

Matt Trainer - “The Autoblogging Blueprint: A Proven Step-By-Step Blogging Strategy To Making $1 Million Per Month In The Next 180 Days”

Rich Brooks - “How To Quickly And Easily Turn A Boring Business Blog Into A Powerful Lead Generation Machine That Brings You A Flood Of Highly-Qualified Prospects Like Clockwork.”

So, if you're interested in improving and amplifying your business blogging, take advantage of the free week to listen to all these folks. After next week, the sessions will be available for sale only.

The Anita Borg Institute is hiring

2010-10-17T07:36:00.000-07:00

I've been on the Board of Advisors for the Anita Borg Institute since early 2009, I believe, and I'm proud to be associated with another group whose mission is so well-aligned with BlogHer's: To create opportunities for women. In Anita Borg's case, they're focused on women in technology. And they have strong ties to the corporate and academic worlds.

The Institute is now hiring three key positions, and each of the jobs sounds pretty exciting. It's great to know the org is growing, even in this tough economy, so if any of these jobs sound like they're up your alley, I hope you'll go for it!

Marketing Manager, email mmktgjobs@anitaborg.org if interested.

Manager, Research and Executive Programs, email resjobs@anitaborg.org if interested.

Development Director, email devjobs@anitaborg.org if interested.

Good luck, and maybe we'll be working together soon :)

Come join me in Seattle?

2010-10-12T13:35:00.000-07:00

So, I'm going to Seattle in a few weeks to speak at a Ladies Who launch event there. Full info on the event is here.

I really like Seattle, although as per usual, I probably won't get that much opportunity to tool around.

I know I'll know one other speaker there, Lissa Rankin. If you attended BlogHer '10, you may have a very clear memory of Lissa making the word "vagina" a rallying cry. If you didn't attend BlogHer and have no idea what I'm talking about, you can watch Lissa's reading at this year's Community Keynote.

But I don't know if I'll know anyone else...and y'all know I'm a closet introvert right?

So, if any of you think a few days of inspiration that feeds your entrepreneurial aspirations sounds like heaven, join me in Seattle. I even have a discount code! Get $100 off the $395 price by using the code: LWL 100

Will I see you there?

$100 Off Ladies Who Launch Seattle

2010-09-18T13:44:00.000-07:00

I'm speaking in Seattle, WA this November 7-9, 2010 as part of the Dream it! Launch it! Live it! Conference produced by Ladies Who Launch.

They're doing something pretty ambitious, kicking off simultaneously in five cities nationwide, and targeting women who are looking for that push to launch a new business, idea, career...life.

Use this URL to register, and enter this promotion code: vip100epage to get $100 off the $495 registration.

You can learn more about the whole event (including the sumptuous-sounding Maui version!) at their site.

And you can register for the Seattle event (and see me) here.

I'll be talking about my unexpected entrepreneurial journey. The session is described like this:

Living It with Elisa Camahort Page
Co-Founder of BlogHer, Elisa Camahort Page will walk you through her unexpected entrepreneurial journey, explain how social media has changed the game for ambitious women, and will ask you the questions you should be asking yourself about risk, reward and relationships. Over seven years ago Elisa left behind her checkered, corporate past…first launching a solo consultancy and then co-founding a Silicon Valley start-up BlogHer. After bootstrapping for two years, today BlogHer is one of the few women-led start-ups with venture backing and has achieved profitability and accolades.

I would love to see you there!

Check it out, I'm in the first (business) Twitter Book!

2010-06-26T17:12:00.000-07:00

Or at least I think it's the first.

Marketing Diva Toby Bloomberg invited me to be part of an odd little project that happened to turn out pretty cool:

Social Media Marketing GPS: A Guide to Social Media 1 Tweet at a Time

It's a free e-book, downloadable form Box.net, and she's gotten a slew of interesting social media practitioners to participate, tweeting on subject from Blogger Relations (my topic) to ethics, metrics and both strategy and tactics. You can read the chapter run-down over on Toby's introductory post.

Yes, we did conduct these Twitter conversations in our public Twitter streams, and Toby collected them and compiled them. And then she does add value by both giving context to the conversation you're about to read, by synthesizing the responses, and finally by asking leading questions that can help you take that information and apply it to your own business or initiative.

It's pretty fun to be part of something new and different, so thanks Toby for the opportunity, and congrats on an excellent, innovative outcome!

Download the book here.

Do you use video as part of a marketing strategy?

2010-06-16T07:35:00.001-07:00

If so the Society for New Communications Research wants to understand what, why and how you're doing. You can take the (very manageable) survey here. (Disclosure: I'm a Founding Fellow of the SNCR.)

Doesn't matter if you're part of a B2B, B2C or non-profit, they're interested in learning more about video as a marketing and storytelling device for organizations. Here's the brief that accompanies the survey:

Research Project Overview
The Organizational Use of Video Storytelling will address the following questions:

How are organizations using and disseminating video today?
Who are the primary audiences for organizational storytelling using video?
What are primary reasons driving organizations’ video strategies, and how big a priority is it?
How has online video changed the ways organizations create and disseminate their stories?
What are the best practices in leveraging video to reach audiences in new ways, and what organizations are doing it well?
How are organizations using video podcasts, YouTube, and other online video platforms, and measuring the success of their video efforts?
What are the trends for online video as storytelling for the next 3-5 years?
How has this "video storytelling" changed the structure, content, and delivery of the “defining” organizational story?
Is the use of video changing the quality and transparency of organizations' stories?
What are the new rules for storytelling success when using online video?

Every organization has stories designed to communicate who they are to both external and internal audiences. Stories are a powerful force for internal innovation and external customer connection. The results of this study will yield insight into best practices for organizations wanting to leverage video to reach audiences and tell their stories in new ways.

Hope you'll help my colleagues out and take the survey if this is part of your work for an organization.

Some fun speaking gigs coming up

2010-04-04T11:27:00.000-07:00

I have a couple of fun speaking gigs this month...one a new, first-time event, and one a stalwart that's having its sixth year, just like BlogHer.

I leave on the 9th for BlogPaws in Columbus, OH. A first-time conference, run by long-time bloggy friend Yvonne DiVita , among others, I'm really looking forward to sharing a different kind of story at BlogPaws. Few people know that actually one of the very earliest awakenings I had to the transformational power of online community was because of my geriatric cats. When they each grew ill, I turned to the Internet and found not just support, but information. While my first geriatric cat had a pretty short illness before dying, her sister Samantha lived for four years with Chronic Renal Failure (CRF) and died at the age of 20! It would never have been possible without the education and support I found online.

The later in April, I'm speaking at my third or fourth New Comm Forum. I'll be doing a new presentation about the new media business model, and how there can be one in a world where everyone creates media. At least, it will be a new presentation once I create it...Yikes! NCF has a rich history for me, since I met BlogHer co-founder Jory Des Jardins at the very first NCF in 2005.

As a speaker I have a few good discounts to share.

1. There's a $500 off "Friend of a Speaker" discount code of NCF500. That brings the full conference fee down to $995. You can register here for that.

2. They are also now offering a One Day Pass option for Wednesday April 21st at just $395. Use the code: NCF1D

I'm speaking on Thursday, BTW, so I prefer you take option #1! :)

There are also a couple of no-host meet-up receptions post-conference, so if you want to learn more about the Society for New Communications Rsearch (of which I'm a Founding Fellow...I love saying that) then you might want to check these out too:
Tuesday evening at the San Mateo Marriott
Thursday evening, also at the Marriott

I'll be at Tuesday's meet-up.

So, will I see you here? There? Everywhere?

Yes, that's me using the word "totally" on Portfolio.com

2010-03-18T16:52:00.000-07:00

Hmm. Now if only I had only used the words "dude" and "awesome", the quotes from me in this Protfolio.com article would have hit the Silicon Valley trifecta of over-used words :)

Actually, I'm pretty sure I did use the word "awesome" at least once, so I'm grateful that columnist Romy Ribitzsky spared me.

The article gives advice to budding entrepreneurs...which honestly I had never planned to be. But sometimes you get overtaken by what it turns out you love to do. And that's the best piece of advice I personally give in the article: Better make sure you start a company that does something you love...because it will consumer your life. Uh huh. Sounds totally right.

Last day for earlybird pricing for Newcomm Forum 2010 | Newcomm Forum 2010

2010-03-12T07:19:00.000-08:00

Today is the last day to get earlybird pricing for Newcomm Forum 2010, this April in San Mateo. And if you use the code NCF100 you get an extra discount on top of earlybird. NewComm has been around since 2005...in fact it's where I met Jory Des Jardins!

This year I'm speaking on new media business model in a session entitled "Cutting Out the Media Middle Man: Next Year's Media Model Today". I'm really excited to talk about how BlogHer gets community journalism initiatives, like the Women of Haiti or our health care reform series, paid for. And also about how social media presents the same opportunities to brands, non-profits, organizations of any kind really.

Will I see you there?

Me, on the SocialMediopolis BlogTalkRadio show

2010-03-01T17:12:00.000-08:00

This morning I was on the SocialMediopolis BlogTalkRadio show. SocialMediopolis is a pretty huge community of social media marketing folks who confab on LinkedIn (and obviously BlogTalkRadio). Check it out:

Me on SocialMediopolis

I share some of BlogHer's origins, and some thoughts on getting funding, using blogging for marketing purposes and other typical tasty treats...all on SocialMediopolis.

[Yeah, I'm just trying to see how often I can work in the word SocialMediopolis.]

Lisa Stone on Press:Here

2010-02-28T09:27:00.000-08:00

When it rains, it pours. So here is Lisa on local tech news show, Press: Here. This show follows Meet the Press on NBC on Sunday mornings. I started a season pass ot the show once we landed Lisa the spot on it, and I think it's a season pass I'll keep. Host Scott McGrew shares the interviewing with different panels of local tech and business journalists, and interviews local business folks including, now Lisa, representing BlogHer. I hope the show sticks around, it's really targeted and relevant for me.

And now, here's Lisa:

Lisa Stone on "Success with Moira Forbes"

2010-02-26T20:01:00.000-08:00

Check her out...she says a lot in just 3 minutes:

They have a name: Outboarders!

2010-02-17T18:17:00.000-08:00

Hat tip to Maria Niles, who pointed me to this NY Times article about the conference phenomenon: Outboarders.

Companies that don't sponsor an event, but instead try to book space near the event and lure people to their space.

"Outboarders" is kind, since I've also heard them called "leeches" or "ambushers".

As BlogHer Conferences have grown this has become an actual issue for us, one I never would have anticipated. I guess because I was never an event planner before, eh?

In a way, it's comforting to know it's a known and apparently increasingly common problem.

In a way, that doesn't make it better at all.

But at least, now, they have a name!

Who actually says this anymore?: "Social media doesn't need ROI"

2010-02-15T07:41:00.001-08:00

When this article in BrandWeek showed up on my Google alert, I was pleased to see one more mention of the Trop 50 campaign BlogHer did with Pepsi in their pages. BrandWeek has consistently pointed to that campaign as an innovative example of social media engagement in action.

But the opening two paragraphs gave me pause, including this statement:

Is all this Tweeting, blogging and Facebooking paying off? For some proponents, the question is irrelevant. They agree with the view encapsulated in the social media bible The Cluetrain Manifesto -- markets are conversations. Companies have to participate in the conversations where they're happening, ROI be damned. Their dismissal of metrics is summed up in an oft-repeated question, "What's the ROI of putting on your pants on in the morning?"

And a further description of the "social media faithful at conferences and on blogs" to whom the above statement about ROI and pants would be "music to the ears" of.

But here's the thing: Really? Who says that anymore? I go to a lot of social media conferences. I see a lot of social media "gurus" in action on blogs and Twitter. BlogHer talks to or works with a lot of social media-focused industry organizations.

And it seems to me that social media ROI is the hottest topic out there. Now, the article is spot on that there isn't one set of industry-accepted success proof points out there, let alone one set of industry-accepted measures for each of those potential proof points. But I think now, years after the publication of the Cluetrain Manifesto, the concept of ROI in the social media space is taken seriously by any serious practitioner.

This casting of fear, uncertainty and doubt reminded me of the very dramatic article from BusinessWeek last December, Beware Social Media Snake Oil...which at least found someone specific to quote to support the notion that social media evangelists think ROI doesn't matter or can't be measured.

It's just not my experience that such evangelists reflect the majority mindset anymore. Actually, they haven't for a long time.

BlogHer launched its Business-focused conference back in early 2007. Case studies have been a part of it from the get-go, and we have a couple of requirements for the case studies presented:

We want a 360 degree view of the campaign: Someone from the brand to talk about what they wanted and needed. Someone from an agency or consultancy firm (if applicable) who helped the brand execute. Someone who participated in the campaign as a user...a blogger, online community member etc., who could talk about what worked or didn't work from their perspective. We actually won't present a case study featuring only the paid vendor talking about the great work they were paid to do...that's a sales pitch.

We also want quantifiable results. Not just feel-good stories. The brands have to be there, and they have to be willing to share. That is, I admit, the tough part sometimes. Brands usually know exactly what went right and wrong...they just don't always want to show & tell.

Nonetheless, as far back as 2007, and each year since, we've found plenty of such case studies to spotlight.

Sometimes the brands measure success in reach (and what's wrong with that, after all)? Sometimes in revenue. Sometimes they take the traditional tools of pre- and post-campaign surveys or focus groups to measure things like brand awareness and affinity.

My point is that I see a sea of measurement-focused fiends out there, trying to transition this industry from one that gets "experimental" budgets, to one that gets marketing dollars in proportion to the attention it gets from consumers.

Am I missing the army of ROI-doesn't-matter "gurus" out there still plying their trade?

Am I going to all the wrong (or, I might call them right) conferences?

And mostly: Am I naive for thinking that the "accepted measures of ROI" for some other kinds of marketing campaigns...say Super Bowl ads or sponsoring a sporting event or a full-page ad in the New York Times...are accepted, but as likely to be no more meaningful to the bottom line than some of our nascent measure of ROI in the social media space?

You tell me.

What He Said: David Carr on Twitter plus a few extra thoughts of my own

2010-02-06T10:09:00.000-08:00

I've been meaning to link to this great column by the NYT's David Carr for quite some time: Why Twitter Will Endure.

He expresses a lot of what I try to explain to people about the appeal of Twitter. He also expresses my response to the most common doubts and complaints I hear expressed about Twitter.

1. David Carr recognizes that your experience with Twitter, and the value you see in it depends entirely on who you follow
I often tell people: "If you don't care what someone is tweeting, don't follow them. Surely, the web is the most customizable media experience you can have. You choose who to friend, who to follow, who to subscribe to. You choose how to consume their output...via apps, RSS readers, by visiting sites or not visiting sites. If someone or something bugs you...click." There, that simple. No, really. I know you don't believe me. I know you think you are being assaulted by what-I-ate tweets, or ads, or too many promotional messages, or an over-reliance on flash graphics. You are not. Take control of your online experience, you'll be glad you did.

2. Even if he's following only smart, savvy people, David Carr doesn't try to absorb everything those people say all the time.
In fact, Carr uses a metaphor very close to the one I use all the time.

He says, "At first, Twitter can be overwhelming, but think of it as a river of data rushing past that I dip a cup into every once in a while."

I say: "I don't stand in the flood of information and ideas...I dip my toe in when I can and get a sense of what's rushing by and what I should pay attention to."

3. David Carr finds the tool endlessly interesting and eminently practical and useful
Ask a question, get it answered. It's kind of that simple. From people you know. Or people who know the people you know. When I go to Yahoo! Answers on another such answer engine on the web I find myself wondering how to filter and sift through the various answers given...how much research do I need to do to confirm the research? On Twitter, most of the time, I get something quick and useful and usually accurate.

Has Twitter ever led me astray? On one or two occasions, definitely. I wouldn't recommend retweeting without even clicking on a link. But generally speaking I follow people I trust, and I trust them because they've established they are on the ball.

Now, Carr doesn't capture everything I love about Twitter. Although I signed up in 2006, even before the infamous Twitter explosion at SXSW '07, I wasn't a real convert until much later. But I soon saw the value of Twitter, and it's not just in information and advice and referrals to interesting links.

If social media is all about the social...if the reason we use social media is to connect to other humans, to create a different kind of relationship with our community than can be created using any other form of media channel, then what could do more to forge those human connections than something where people express not only smart, well-formed, substantive thoughts (like those I try to blog) but also the most ephemeral, the most fleeting, the most impromptu thoughts and feelings that don't seem worth a blog post, but express something in my unique voice, nonetheless.

The tweets I publish that get the most replies? Tweets about music, food, things that strike my heart, not just my brain. These may not be the tweets that get *retweeted* the most...no, that's the informational and educational and promotional stuff. But I get the most response, and forge relationships, based on being a real-live human who loves to hear "Bizarre Love Triangle" on the way to work, or is excited when a restaurant offers vegan dessert, or has a chance encounter with a sobbing woman in an airport.

Twitter is where the Internet is most like my family...having heated debates around the dinner table one minute, sharing my day the next, and laughing over something stupid only we understand the next after that.

Why do you love, hate, or have a love-hate relationship with Twitter?

Follow-up: Audio fro last week's interview

2010-01-31T09:48:00.001-08:00

You can directly download the audio from the interview I conducted for Fem 2.0 last week: The Three Faces of Work-Life Balance. (Leanr more about the entire series at the Fem 2.0 radio channel at TalkShoe.)

The Fem 2.0 folks, particularly Gloria Pan, have done a tremendous job with an ambitious undertaking to thoroughly examine work-life issues, both broadly, and from the perspective of various niches. By doing that they are trying to go beyond the conversations we've all already had, which I can appreciate. Some episodes focus on those niches, like singletons, men, and different diverse communities. My episode was setting the table. Reviewing the major conclusions from a new study on work-life balance.

I definitely learned some things I didn't know about how our society today compares to 30 and 40 years ago.

So, take a listen.

Join me for a conversation about work-life balance

2010-01-24T18:01:00.000-08:00

Last year I was proud to sign on to the inaugural Fem 2.0 Conference as a plenary speaker, and this year I'm proud to be conducting the kick-off interview in a new series they're producing for a campaign called: Wake Up! This is the Reality!

I'll be interviewing the publishers of a new study on, well, just how messed up we are in this area of American life. Here's the description and the details:

The Three Faces of Work/Family Conflict: Can Americans Care For Their Families Without Losing Their Jobs?
Monday, January 25, 11:30 AM EST, here

Host: Gloria Pan
Heather Boushey, Senior Economist, Center for American Progress 
Elisa Camahort Page, Co-Founder, BlogHer
 Joan Williams, Director, Center for WorkLife Law at University of California - Hastings

Elisa Camahort Page interviews Joan Williams and Heather Boushey about their new report, The Three Faces of Work/Family Conflict. To be released later this month by the Center for American Progress and the Center for WorkLife Law, the report looks at the impact of work policies on American workers and families at different income levels, revealing the all-too-common, gut-wrenching choices Americans face between being able to care for loved ones and being able to pay the bills.

You'll be able to send in your questions during the interview, so there will be an opportunity for live Q&A.

I've read the preliminary research report we'll be discussing, and I can tell you there some some findings that did give me pause. The media storyline about work/life balance really tends to focus on just a couple of archetypical situations...there are a whole lot of people whose stories are not getting told.

Hope you'll join us!

Presenting on Women and Social Media on Capitol Hill and at the White House

2009-12-17T06:51:00.000-08:00

You can read all about the adventures Erin Kotecki Vest and I had in DC yesterday, but you can also see exactly the slides that we presented...first to Republican communications and new media staffers, then to Senior Advisor to the President, Valerie Jarrett and members of her team and the White House new media team:

BlogHer Goes to Washington

View more documents from ElisaCamahortPage.

Of course, the slides don't tell the stories. The stories women tell about how political issues impact their day to day lives. But as we told these political teams yesterday: There's a whole world of voters outside the political blogosphere and its partisan echo chambers (which I know well after my years as a political blogger). Those voters wouldn't self-identify as "political bloggers", but every time they talk about food safety or the H1N1 vaccine or the economy or how their health insurance coverage was taken away or how to reduce your carbon footprint...they're talking politics. The politics of every day life.

BlogHer is listening, and we're evangelizing to both sides of the aisle to listen too.

Twitter: Is it the place to run ads?

2009-11-22T09:36:00.000-08:00

Really appreciated this post, Risks with Twitter Advertising, on the Going Social Now blog. You might think from the headline that this was all about the risks of alienating followers or being associated with the "Wild West" of uncontrolled content on Twitter, and certainly the first risk does come up. In social media your first concern as a company jumping in is to not be the company that comes in and ruins the user experience!

What I enjoyed about the post was that it also brought up unknown and unresolved issues around the quality of experience for the advertiser too. Such as the lack of cookies, therefore the inability to put frequency caps on how often a user sees a particular ad. Such as the lack of actually reliable impression or click trackability. Things that are taken for granted in the usual online advertising world.

There's only one thing I would correct in this post. They say:

"Before you know it, the FTC will feel obliged to institute guidelines or requirements for advertising in this space too."

Well, the future is now, because the FTC has already said that their new guidelines for bloggers apply to tweets and Facebook status updates too. So, disclosure...yes!

Personally, when it comes to Twitter, I'm proud of the solution I helped institute for BlogHer.

1. Our @BlogHer account is about community and content
2. Our @BlogHerSupport account is for answering questions in a public way, but without boring everyone
3. Our @BlogHerDeals account is all sponsor offers and initiatives

The beauty of Twitter is that it's a 100% opt-in user experience. If you don't like what any particular person is tweeting, unfollow. Conversely we can be pretty sure that every person that follows our Support and Deals Twitter account opted in to that kind of content.

I may be biased, given this is BlogHer's Twitter policy, and that our blogging policy also spells out a similar kind of physical separation of editorial and sponsored content, but I think that if you want to turn your Twitter stream into an advertising opportunity, you should try creating a new Twitter feed, grow a follower base of people who are interested in that kind of content from you and then go for it, to your heart's content!

Listen to me live (?)

2009-11-17T08:20:00.000-08:00

In about 5 minutes (8:30AM PT), on this fine, crisp fall morning, I will be appearing on the Chat With Women radio show.

You can listen to me live here.

Only, that link isn't working for me. I'm sure I need to install something or other, but no time!

(Not that I can listen to myself live, yes, I understand that.)

In any case, I'll come back and add the link once they post it. As I tweeted earlier, tI have only the vaguest idea of what we're going to be talking about, so it will be improv...woo hoo!

Taking control of your social media

2009-10-25T08:29:00.000-07:00

Over a year ago I wrote a peeved post, Me and the bad pitches: Or why bloggers get peeved by marketers. In it I shares how a bad PR pitch from someone representing a product I actually loved turned me off.

The product, in this case, was a show, Spring Awakening. The PR person in question wanted free promotion from me, and when I asked about a couple of media passes to review the show, they went dead silent. As I explained in my post above, it was a good idea to approach a blogger who had already raved about your show, a true brand fan, but that wasn't one of them.

Here we are, over one year later, and I received an email not from a PR firm, but from the blogger for the touring company's blog, Totally Trucked. Pun, the gender-neutrally-named blogger in question had found my post and reached out.

First, I have to say: Impressive to find my post. It doesn't exactly come up on page one of the search for Spring Awakening blogs.

Second, Pun apologized for my prior bad experience with their brand (because, yes, that PR person's blunder reflected on their brand) and admirably addresses each of the complaints I made in my afore-linked post. Finally, Pun shares something that I think more and more companies are realizing and acting on, namely:"...we are coordinating outreach on the national level now--many local presenters do not have sufficient experience with bloggers."

OK, so maybe "local presenters" isn't a universal term and specific to this genre of company, but the point is that the show went beyond simply having their own blog...they realized that reaching out to the blogosphere should come from deep on the inside too.

Now, am I saying a marketing person, or even a PR person, can't be authentic, can't be "on the inside"? No. I'm a marketer; I believe we are typically pretty damn passionate about what we market.

But.

Don't abdicate the responsibility. If it's your brand, your company, you will be held responsible for what happens in its name. Social media as a marketing tool isn't something wildly revolutionary anymore. The slack people will cut you is getting shorter and shorter. We expect you to know better. We expect you to care about what kind of outreach is being done in your name.

Maybe that doesn't always mean taking that outreach "inside", but whoever is doing it better have access to the inside. And buy-in from the inside.

The hottest fan-passion can cool. Don't let it happen to you while you're not even looking.

Smart People Talking About Important Things: Bioneers

2009-10-16T06:55:00.000-07:00

I'm speaking at the Bioneers Conference in Marin on Saturday, but the conference itself starts today.

And you can watch panels life, as they'll be streaming them (including mine) via Ustream. My panel about how Social Media and Sustainability mix, is at 4:30PM on Saturday, but check out more about the entire schedule here.

Now, if your thing is live and in-person interaction, tickets are still available at the door, but otherwise: Keep your eyes on the video below!

Live TV : Ustream

Link Round-up: The FTC and their new guidelines

2009-10-11T11:52:00.000-07:00

OK, the other shoe dropped, and the FTC released their actual new guidelines covering advertisers, bloggers and celebrity endorsers.

I've actually read most of them, and scanned them multiple times looking for specific references (for example to fines, penalties, enforcement, etc.)

I suggest you either read them yourself, or stick to commentary from people who have read them or interviewed FTC folks about them because I'm frankly shocked at the misinformation that started floating around about these guidelines right from the moment they were released. First from (usually) reputable sources and then from bloggers and tweeters going to town with the misinformation.

Bottom line: If you think this affects you? Then read them yourself. Why rely on anyone else's assessment?

It was actually hard for me to find mainstream resources that didn't repeat misinformation, particularly the whole "$11,000 fine" meme, which turned out to be false. OK, with that said, here are some good resources.

On BlogHer

Who would I be if I didn't start with Melanie Nelson's great and thorough post on BlogHer: The New FTC Guidelines and What They Mean to You and if I didn't remind you to review how BlogHer has approached publishing editorial and sponsored content since 2006 in Lisa's founder post: The elephant in the room: How BlogHer is cracking the code on editorial content and paid advertising?

Elsewhere

While some mainstream media sources seem to want to fan the flames of the "wild, wild west" view of the blogosphere, a couple of others have done exactly what journalistic sources are supposed to do: Report. And fact check. So check out:

Fast Company was the first to talk to the FTC and debunk some of the rumors about fines and enforcement, having them answer questions coming from concerned bloggers themselves.

Media Bistro's PR Newser blog checked in with the FTC to get even more clarification around the existence (or not) of penalties, fines and enforcement paths. Including drawing a very important distinction between guidelines and laws.

MediaPost publishes a helpful look at why the FTC thinks reviewers at "traditional media outlets" don't need to follow these same guidelines. Agree or disagree, it's a clear explanation of the position.

If you want a great bloggy analysis from someone who isn't freaking out about the guidelines, then check out:

Susan Getgood is always a good place to start, as this is a blogger who knows how to write substantive opinion pieces based on clearly cited data resources. Always disciplined. Her analysis, part one, is a general overview of the guidelines. Keep your eyes open for part two, as I'm sure it will be equally as useful.

Of course it wouldn't be fair not to point you to:

Those who think this signals the End of Days

From sources both mainstream and bloggy, some folks are telling you how they really feel, and it starts with the headlines:

Slate publishes a piece entitled "The FTC's Mad Power Grab"

Less hysterical and more grounded in real problems, MediaPost published "Legal Expert Questions FTC's New Blogger Rules".

And I must point out that two stalwarts from traditional media, turned blogging superstars, are virulently opposed. Those two being Jeff Jarvis and Dan Gillmor. The word "dangerous" gets thrown around a lot.

Now, where all of the above (and I) are in total agreement is that the proof will be in the pudding of enforcement. If these guidelines are applied fairly, consistently and without scapegoating bloggers (as opposed to more mainstream publishers or celebrities who are receiving just as much, if not way more, value from relationships with brands) then who can argue that disclosure and transparency aren't good things? People would do well to avoid some of the crazier hypotheticals I've seen tossed around and focus on letting the government know that we will indeed be keeping a watchful eye on fair follow-through.

Any law can be abused. There is no doubt about it. Were these guidelines written too broadly and thus at greater risk for such abuse? Perhaps so, but then I wish the debates could focus on that without all the hyperbole and smelling salts and ridiculous restaurant eavesdropping metaphors. Otherwise it seems like a case of the blogger "doth protest too much".

Hope this is helpful.

A tale of two customer experiences: When "bugging" the customer works...and doesn't

2009-10-04T09:15:00.000-07:00

We customers are a prickly and thorny bunch. I get that. We want companies to get it just right, and "just right" seems to change based on the circumstances. We also often seem to swing between complaining or saying nothing...and yet if you dare for one minute to assume that "no news is good news" when it comes to customers, you'll probably regret it.

But sometimes I think companies don't spend very much time putting themselves in the customer's shoes.

Case #1: Don't bug me with your customer surveys...until I've got something to say

Most of my life I've had GM cars, from my first car: a hand me down '72 Chevy Impala to the two Saturns I've owned in the last 12 years or so. The Saturn folks, in particular, are very customer-focused, and I had my moments over the eight years or so that I owned Saturns of being bugged. Bugged by that snail mail survey post-routine service. Followed up by the phone survey. And sometimes an email survey. I'm guessing I didn't take the vast majority of those surveys. Everything was fine. No need to spend my precious time responding.

Now, I have a Honda Civic Hybrid. I've had it a little over a year, and I noticed something when I took it in for its routine service. They didn't wash the car before giving it back. I don't mean a fancy detailing, but my experience with both Saturn and Audi (the two brands that I got and serviced through dealers) was that any service was topped off with a nice, basic exterior wash of the car. Not so with Honda. And it bugged me. "Well, when i get my post-service survey, I will certainly let them know that this is a little thing that goes a long way!", I thought to myself. (When the truth is, it is its omission that goes a long way.)

Only I never got that survey, They didn't bug me via snail mail, telephone or email. No bugging at all. Which, you guessed it, bugs me to no end.

And the moral of the story is: Yes, it's a bummer that people, including me, enjoy complaining more than they enjoy sharing praise. Yes, people will ignore your surveys, and you will struggle to get healthy response rates and actionable feedback.

But you have to ask. Because otherwise, you have a customer like me who may be perfectly satisfied with my vehicle, but may think much less of the brand...over a very tiny thing.

And really, would it hurt you to rinse my car down after you've worked on it?

Case #2: That's great you want to protect me, but you're protecting me from the wrong things

I'm about to cancel a credit card I've had for 17 years. As soon as my new card comes from a different company, I'm canceling the old one, even though it will be a pain in the butt, given the auto-charges I have set up on it.

Why?

Because in their eagerness to be consumer protection leaders, they are protecting me from purchases that set off no typical alarm bells and are, in fact, with companies I do business with regularly. Over the last few months I have had numerous transactions declined/held, or that triggered a check-in call to me that I had to return and deactivate.

This is all to protect me from fraud using my card. I should be grateful, right? So, why am I so bugged?

-Because in 17 years of having this card I've never missed a payment, never had a fraudulent charge and I'm never near my limit.
-Because their auto-bot phone system never accounts for voicemail messages and leaves half-messages on my machine.
-Because they actually sent an email with a link to click to approve a transaction...as if any bank should encourage their customers to trust such emails from banks! And yet when I went to the site to do it directly, it is impossible to find any place to do so. Hence, the wasted time making phone calls.
-Because they declined my annual donation to the Humane Society!
-Because they made me call to approve my annual domain name renewal charges...with the same company made at the same time every year for the last 6 years.
-Because they made me call to approve a purchase for $8.99 on my Kindle.

I mean, if you're going to protect me, at least protect me from the anomalous charges! Not the ones that are part of my regular spending pattern. Don't tell me you don't have the systems to say, oh yes, she has made 20 donations to the Humane Society in the last ten years, I think she means it.

And lastly, when I called, no one really had anything to offer me to improve my experience, not even the hallowed "supervisor". A shrug of the shoulders is what I got.

And losing a long-time customer is what they're going to get.

All because they bugged me. But really because they made me feel like an anonymous, random cog in their machine, not a long-time valued customer.

And that's the common thread here. It's not so hard to make customers feel like you know then, that you think about them and care about what they think.

The surveys no one responds to? Doesn't mean we don't get the message that you want to hear about what we think. Doesn't mean we won't notice if you decide to stop asking us.

Checking in on purchases when I traveled overseas? Didn't bug me at all...I knew that charging something from Africa was a bit out of the norm (to say the least). That's protection I appreciate. Calling me three times in one month about penny-ante and even regular charges? Declining a charitable donation in a non-outrageous amount? Senseless aggravation.

Customers are a prickly bunch. But we actually make sense most of the time.

"I am a Technical Woman"

2009-10-01T15:07:00.000-07:00

Here are my two seconds of fame! Can you spot me in this fun video from the Anita Borg Institute:

The Institute announced their largest ever, sold-out attendance at this week's Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing...over 1,600 people!

Last year I was struck by the diversity of thee (mostly) women...across many dimensions. I believe the ABI, like BlogHer, makes it very difficult for anyone...whether organizing a speaking roster or compiling a "top" list...to say that there aren't any qualified women, or they don't know where to find them.

I know the ABI, like we at BlogHer, are happy to help you diversify your offerings with amazing, competent, qualified, expert women across all sorts of fields and subject matter areas.

The video is just a fun, short little thing...but take its point

Full Disclosure: I am on the Board of Advisors for the Institute.

I'm in good company

2009-09-27T19:23:00.001-07:00

Scoble has joined the ranks of those totally annoyed by the Twitter Suggested User List lately, and has been on a tear about it. First on Twitter itself, now in this post.

Thanks Robert, happy to be in that company!

Every time I'm tempted to say "Who cares about the Twitter Suggested User List? Who cares about rankings etc.?" (Because I don't really pay attention to them or even my traffic, truth be told) I"m reminded that back when we started BlogHer, people asked the same about the Technorati Top 100 and other rankings that included next to no women. And the argument then and now is that such rankings and lists are used as feeds into other avenues of power. The media uses them as sources. Companies use them to determine who to partner with. If they are arbitrary, exclusionary or unfairly homogenous, it has a ripple effect.

So, I might personally not care, but I'm glad Robert is caring for me!

The thing about swag

2009-09-06T08:27:00.000-07:00

Since BlogHer '09 happened, about six weeks ago, there's been a mini-debate about an age-old marketing tool: Swag, IOW: Stuff We All Get.

This is a somewhat lengthy post, but I urge you to read it all, if only to read about some shocking "swag" given out at ComicCon this year.

Back to BlogHer: There was a lot of swag at the conference. Some folks were bothered by the quantity. Some folks were bothered by how the availability of swag changed the quality of some attendees' behavior. Some folks maintained a "different strokes for different folks" attitude and urged people to Just Say No to swag if it bothered them. Some folks started making gross generalizations about the kind of people who might like swag. Some folks, having clearly never attended other trade shows in other industries, thought the swag availability and ensuing pursuit of said swag was unique to bloggers. Or women. Or mommies. Some folks who didn't witness any swag pandemonium or weren't even at the conference had a lot of fun talking about it and, even better, waxing judgmental about it. Some folks expressed genuine concern about waste and our consumerist society. There are lots of ideas about how to better manage swag for next year's conference, including some great ideas about how to make sure it's all as opt-in as possible. You can see a lot of debate about the issue on our post-conference post soliciting feedback on the swag issue and other issues. You can add your own thoughts there too. We take the issue seriously, and we added several question about swag to the post-conference attendee survey too. We think we can make improvements, and we intend to.

But here's the thing about swag and why most companies are always going to want to give some and, let's be totally honest, most attendees are always want to get some: It works. I could go into a long dissertation about it, but Amy from Pretty Babies pretty much already did in this post. You should read it. She brings up everything from business practices to classism. She's smart.

I'm going to tell one personal story about how swag best does its job.

When I as growing up, my siblings and I each started doing our own laundry at a fairly young age. I used laundry detergent. And I used dryer sheets. I honestly don't know if my mom didn't believe in bleach, fabric softener, stain remover and the like, or if she had that stuff, but I was too young (and probably lazy) to mess with it when I started doing my own laundry. Either way...I have done my own laundry for almost 40 years and have stuck to buying only laundry detergent and dryer sheets.

I confess I even had a cynical attitude towards other products. With no scientific back-up I had the attitude that stain remover, as an example, was simply re-packaged detergent. I don't know why I thought this. I never tried it.

Until, after BlogHer, when I used a sample of a stain remover given by one of our laundry sponsors. The product was biodegradable and cruelty-free, so it met my basic requirements for such a product. I decided to give it a shot on a grease stain that had been on one of my black tops for ages. I kept wearing that top, thinking the black on black stain was probably not very visible to other people, but I was always a little self-conscious about it.

I tried the stain remover, and it removed the stain.

Maybe, to some of you, this is not a revelatory statement.

But I can tell you this one item of swag will change an over-20-year pattern of purchasing habits, which is exactly what that company is hoping for. Sounds extreme, and maybe it is, but in the post-conference survey we found plenty of similar experiences expressed.

Is there such a thing as crappy, useless swag? Oh absolutely. But uselessness is also in the eye of the beholder. Long ago I stopped picking up t-shirts at trade shows. I have a stack of industry t-shirts (from three different industries) about three feet high. I don't need another t-shirt in my life. I don't even wear them that often. But TW from Retro Food has often blogged that her day-to-day wardrobe is made up of such t-shirts, so she's always on the hunt for more. I love picking up notebooks. I actually use a notebook in my day to day work. I have tons of them. I know lots of people who think they're a waste of paper and a waste of time. I could go on and on, but you get the point.

So, while we continue to mull the meaning of swag, I continue to believe that, as with most things, it's about how you do something more than whether you do something.

Bonus Conclusion: The promised "shocking swag" story. And i think I can promise this will not be how BlogHer does things:

According to Joystiq, EA was there promoting a new game. They had the usual set-up in their booth where you could take a picture with a hot booth babe. According to their promotion it looks like the girls were going to be in bikinis, but who knows, that could have been false advertising. (Where's the FTC when you need them, eh?) Tweeting your picture with the hot booth babe (and "committing acts of lust" by finding other hot babes to take pictures with and tweeting those) would enter you in a contest to win:

"Dinner and a SINful night with TWO hot girls..." plus a limo ride and other "booty". Pun intended I'm sure.

This promotion takes the unpleasant "swag whore" moniker a little too literally for my taste, how about you?

This happened at Comic-Con, which was the same weekend as BlogHer this year. While you can find some blog posts abut this controversy in gamer blogs, I only found one mainstream outlet's blog that picked it up. And certainly no hand-wringing mainstream media reports about the moral state of gamers today because of this promotion.

Susan Getgood may be right that the mainstream media has "mommy issues".

BlogHer '09 interview links...BlogHers in their own words

2009-09-01T17:10:00.000-07:00

Wanted to point out some of the great coverage we got at BlogHer that let people basically speak for themselves.

I thought a lot of the more traditional media coverage was very, well, traditional. Some folks came knowing the story they wanted to tell, and they interviewed folks until the found the soundbites that supported the story, and then they crafted that story for public consumption.

But those kind of stories are never the whole story. Not when you have 1, 500 (mostly) women from all walks of life and all segments of the blogosphere there, and raising their voices.

So I enjoyed the outlets that actually shared their interviews with different attendees and let us hear their stories in their own words.

Webmaster Radio's audio interviews tend to focus on organizational attendees. But even there, there is diversity. Hear Gina McCauley talk about founding Blogging While Brown, or Michelle Whitlock talk about the non-profit Pearls of Wisdom or Anne Collier talk about Internet safety. Plus many more.

Then hop on over to PBS's YouTube channel and check out their BlogHer '09 Playlist. Yes, you can hear my story about trying to unplug when in Africa, but you can also hear from self-proclaimed "worst mother in the world", Lenore Skenazy, conservative blogger Fausta Wertz, and community keynote original mastermind, Eden Kennedy. And they tell me more videos are coming.

Enjoy!

Me, acting all expert-y about information overload

2009-08-31T16:55:00.000-07:00

Let's keep it between us that I actually struggle with information overload on a daily basis. Instead focus on the fact that the tips I give in this video on BlogHer are actually good tips. I should follow my own advice a lot more consistently than I do.

The most important thing I share in this video is this: You control the noise. I get really frustrated by people, be they elitist journalists or clueless family members, who can't imagine why people use Twitter or who complain about how many blogs there are now Or who ask the classic: "Who cares what anyone had for lunch?" question.

So, without further ado, here is the video*:

* The Juice is an initiative BlogHer has done in tandem with Tropicana Trop 50. I wasn't originally scheduled to be a guest, but then they realized that of course they should have someone with eight blogs and an account on every social network speak about information overload :)

Is Time magazine serious?

2009-08-30T12:04:00.000-07:00

I'd actually like to think Time Magazine is joking when they name the web sites in this list as the Best of 2009.

Don't get me wrong: It's not like I don't use (and generally love) sites like Google, Flickr, Yelp, Delicious, Twitter, Skype, Open Table, Amazon, Netflix, Wikipedia and more.

But, come on.

1. Am I the only one who see a headline like Best Web Sites of 2009 and hopes to learn about new sites?

2. Am I the only one who see a headline like Best Web Sites of 2009 and hopes to discover amazing new content?

3. Am I the only one who doesn't actually consider some of these to be web sites, but rather web applications or services?

4. Am I the only one who wonders what could be newsworthy about listing sites that are already in the Top 20, 50, even 100 visited sites on the entire Internet?

5. Am I the only one who thinks this would have been better entitled: "Top 50 Sites for People Who Have Been Living in Caves"?

Bah. Humbug.

Deadline September 7th: Submit your amazing communications initiative for a SNCR Award

2009-08-25T07:25:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry I'm only posting this now, but there are still two weeks left in which to submit a a nomination for the Society for New Communications Research Announces Call for Entries for 2009 Excellence in New Communications Awards.

I'm a Founding Fellow of SNCR, which has been around since 2005. It's a global nonprofit research and education foundation and think tank focused on the latest developments in new media and communications.

Their awards program "honors the work of corporations, governmental and nonprofit organizations, educational institutions, media outlets and individuals who are innovating the use of social media, ICT, mobile media, online communities and virtual worlds and collaborative technologies in the areas of business, media, and professional communications, including advertising, marketing, public relations and corporate communications, as well as entertainment, education, politics, and social initiatives."

You can check this link for all the categories and details, but suffice to say: Just about any kind of program executed by and/or for any kind of organization should be able to find a category in which to fit.

The submission must include a case study detailing initiatives and technologies. The winning case studies are published by SNCR and New Communications Review and the winners will be honored at the 2009 Society for New Communications Research Symposium & Awards Gala, which will be held November 5-6 at the Harvard Faculty Club in Cambridge, Mass. and hosted by SNCR Fellow Paul Gillin.

Entry guidelines and the online entry form can be found at http://www.sncr.org/awards. The deadline for submissions is September 7th, 2009.

As a member of SNCR's Best Practices Committee I'll likely judge a category or two, so perhaps I'll see your case studies in a couple of weeks?

My attempt to unplug

2009-08-24T17:56:00.000-07:00

PBS Frontline's Digital Nation project was at BlogHer '09 and interviewed lots of amazing women who blog.

And then there's me. Telling a quick story about trying to unplug while in Africa for a week. And considering myself quite successful at it. Even though I didn't actually unplug the whole, entire time.

It's two-minutes long, enjoy!

Spam me to defend yourself against spam. Good plan.

2009-08-22T12:24:00.000-07:00

I got an email almost a week ago that was so glaringly ironic that I saved it. A day later David Weinberger, who is obviously more on the blogging ball than I, blogged the same email: meta-meta-spam.

Some company I've never heard of, and who I can guarantee I've never opted in to receive emails from, sent me an email:

Twitter has recently moved to shut down web promotions company uSocial.net, by claiming the advertising agency is “spamming”.

According to uSocial CEO Leon Hill, Twitter recently sent accusations via a brand-management organisation that uSocial are using Twitter for spam purposes. Despite this, uSocial say the claims are false.

“The definition of spam is using electronic messaging to send unsolicited communication and as we don’t use Twitter for this, the claims are false.” Said Hill.

Indeed, that is the definition, thanks for reminding me...dude who is spamming me to tell me how he's not a spammer on Twitter!

The #blogher09 hashtag stream has been completely overtaken by spammers...some of them no doubt enabled by this company in question.

Let's just say: I am not your target audience spammer-dude.

Aw, I'm a high school lesson!

2009-07-12T08:50:00.000-07:00

Got the nicest email yesterday. From someone leading a class on leadership for high school students, who came upon an old post of mine and wanted to use it as a lesson in communications.

The post: A Little Story About Communication

I'll be honest, I was surprised. It's an old post, and not one that pop into my head when thinking of past posts that might be lesson-worthy.

But I'm tickled nonetheless.

Cross-post: BlogHer post on Twitter, Marketing and Tools

2009-07-09T19:23:00.000-07:00

We launched a new Twitter account at BlogHer, @BlogHerDeals.

This prompted a little soul-searching about whether the use of Twitter as a marketing tool is a natural fit. Or whether some tools of the human variety are ruining Twitter with their marketing.

Weigh in and you be the judge.

QoTD: "Angry, little "SEO Experts"

2009-07-05T14:41:00.001-07:00

I was reading a standard post about Twitter, and how he uses it, from Guy Kawasaki.

Wasn't really learning anything new or being too surprised when I read this somewhat hilarious Q from his FAQs about Twitter, about his use of ghost-twitterers:

Question: Why do some people attack you so much for this?

Answer: Most are angry, little “SEO experts” who cannot generate content, so they try to generate controversy in order to drive traffic to their blogs or get other angry, little people to follow them.

Oh so sad for those very reputable SEO folks I know, including the folks at Beyond Ink that BlogHer actually hired when we were transitioning from our old .org domain to .com.

But oh so reminds of some of the stuff that happens, say every July when "BlogHer" is a trending topic :)

How many ads prompt LOLs and serious commentary?

2009-07-02T18:34:00.000-07:00

Lisa, Jory and I often say that we created the "best jobs we've ever had" when we co-founded BlogHer.

So, here's a little insight into one reason I say that:

Lately I've been having a lot of fun with BlogHer's own house ads that we run on BlogHer.com and the network. We like to feature hot editorial and our contributing editors, among other community-related stuff.

One of the earliest editorial ads we did was set to feature some posts that were written on the site about marketing to women, and how companies fall back on stereotypes. When talking abut the visuals to go with the copy featuring the editors' work, one of my colleagues proposed putting the copy against a sparkly pink background, but wondered if that would be too negative.

I thought: Hey why not just go all the way with that? So I literally said:

"As for a visual: We can use their [the editors] headshots, but superimpose them onto cartoon figures as follows:

Suzane riding a unicorn
Virginia in a Disney-like princess outfit

All against a pink background with butterflies and rainbows?

I think that would be hilarious."

And I did think that would be hilarious :)

And it came out looking like this:

Which I thought was actually hilarious. I laughed every time I saw it. I exchanged tweets with folks who loved it too. Fun for all!

And then this blogger was actually motivated to write some serous commentary based on seeing the ad:

"While doing my usual rounds of the food blogs, I came across a banner that intrigued me: it was from BlogHer, asking us (you?) if marketing to women is all about stereotypes. I couldn't quite remember the content of the articles I read from that link, but one writer was lamenting about a sparkly pink candy "just for the ladies" (I can't remember if this is the article I read about the controversial candy bar called "The Finger") while another one, about a "misguided laptops-for-women site." I found myself agreeing with the content of the articles, and of course I am for gender-neutral advertising, for the most part. But don't think men have been dealt a better hand.

Just watching a local cable network here, "Maxx" (probably your equivalent would be SpikeTV, Americans), where I get my daily dose of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, all the ads are geared towards men. The tagline is "get away with it." Away with what? Oh, watching extreme sports, bikini-clad computer-generated anime females that I hope are meant to be older than 21, references to wanking, beer, infidelity, pugilism, poker, and yes, we prefer women to be dumb (and biting their nails for some reason). Why is The Daily Show and The Colbert Report (among other comedy shows) here? Because laughter apparently requires testicles."

And he goes on to outline traditional feminine programming a la the Lifetime Network or Hallmark Channel...good stuff.

I had to agree I had never thought of it that way. And it was excellent food for thought...no pun intended simply because that incisive commentary was on a food blog :)

But you know what: That's why I love my job.

I'm just sayin'

Interview with Paula G...on being comfortable in one's own skin

2009-06-14T12:31:00.000-07:00

Had a great time this past Wednesday being interviewed by life coach and BlogHer CE on personal finance, business and career, Paula Gregorowicz.

The link to her post publishing the interview is here.

I'm not sure I completely lived up to Paula's vision of being comfortable in one's own skin and how that leads to fulfillment and success. I think I made a different point...that one can be comfortable in one's own skin in parts. And that can be enough. I am highly comfortable about some things, and that serves me well...and it can serve you well too, even if you're a mass of discomfort about other things! Leverage your strengths, baby, that's what it's all about.

When I think of some of the great achievers, I'm not thinking of people who breeze through life without insecurity, or even people who seem that comfortable in their own skin. But they are driven, and who knows? Maybe our discomforts and insecurities are part of what drive us?

What does being comfortable in your own skin...or not being that comfortable...mean to you and achieving your goals?

Pay-per-tweet? Responses to it? Sigh. I never realized I was such a capitalist!

2009-06-06T11:09:00.000-07:00

Catching up on my blog reading after a week in NYC, I came across this piece on Mashable: Will Pay Per Tweet Ruin Twitter?.

As per usual, the post itself only generated a part of my response below, with the lengthy comment thread providing most of the fodder. I started to leave a comment, but you may already know my personal rule: If I start to leave a comment, and it exceeds three paragraphs? It deserves to be a blog post instead.

And here we go, first with some background:

Once upon a time, a long time ago, there was a company called Pay Per Post that paid bloggers a nominal fee to write posts for PPP customers, including specified links etc. PPP came under fire for a variety of policy issues, including the fact that they didn't require disclosure that the posts in question were paid for, and for the fact that sometimes bloggers didn't get samples of products they were paid to write about...so these truly seemed to be regurgitation of company talking points, not authentic reviews or opinions.

Now, it was bad enough when some bloggers and blog readers got their knickers in a twist about it...that created repeated brouhahas and blog swarms. But then Google got wind of it, and decided to strip page rank from blogs who in engaged in PPP. So what? I mean Google ain't the law, right? They're not even the only search engine. They aren't the boss of you, me or any other blogger. All true, but, you know, bloggers can rationalize losing readers who don't like what they blog about, but having Google impact their blog's rank (and therefore search presence and, let's face it, credibility, was another matter altogether.

So, the market having spoken, Pay Per Post changed their name (to Izea) and changed some of their policies. Hey, its a nascent market, a nascent industry, so I guess kudos to them for adapting. Now, to my knowledge, whatever else they may do and whatever you may think, they require disclosure, and they use the no-follow tag to appease Google.

End of story? Not on your life. Apparently now, Izea has introduced a pay-per-tweet service, and it's deja vu all over again. PS: Here on in I will call it PPT. Because I'm lazy like that.

So, telling that the fable above and offering my kudos to Izea's adaptability is not to say that:

a. I agree with such programs or policies
b. That I would participate in them
c. That that's the way BlogHer would ever do things. (Full disclosure: We do things differently. If you want to see how we do things and why, read this post. We like our way of doing things just fine, think we've cracked the code, and it happens to not be like Izea's particular approach.)

But some things just make me go hmmm. Once again, as my partner Jory pointed out in one of her columns for Jack Myers, people are abandoning analysis and nuance in favor of sweeping condemnation and a weird need to control others instead of controlling themselves.

And I found a surprising impulse with me. Me, the bleeding heart who thinks a lot about right and wrong and what should be done about it. I found my inner capitalist, and she was saying: "Let the reader decide. Let the market decide."

Another thing I'm not saying: I'm not saying that people aren't completely entitled to express their outrage or disappointment over this new program. Totally your right, free country, blah-di-blah-di-blah. And i completely support your right to vote with your feet, your wallet, your eyeballs. In fact, once you've publicly denounced something, aren't you kind of obligated to do so? :)

But, barring fraud or some other criminality, my inner capitalist is saying: "Let people and companies try as many new things in this space as they like."

Because the real, true beauty of my online experience? I control it. I'm tired of complaints about "the noise". Turn down the noise, people, the controls are in your hands!! it's called "unfollow" or "unsubscribe" or filtering, and I recommend using it liberally.

Mashable's Adam Ostrow actually makes the same argument, so I agree with 90% of his post. But my jaw dropped a bit at this sweeping generalization:

"Personally, I think any review – on a blog or on Twitter – is immediately de-valued if the author is being paid to write it, because the objectivity is lost."

And this whole post started because I wanted to respond to the following comment thread about that statement:

Lisawriter:
Hmm, if you argue that all critics who are paid can't be objective, you could say the same thing about Roger Ebert, book reviewers and other pros. It depends on the critic's experience.

Adam Ostrow:
eh, but Roger Ebert *needs* the content in order to review it, and people want his reviews of this weekend's new movies. Reviews of random products by random people for pay is quite a bit different imo.

Kage:
I agree. It's Roger Eberts job, he loves movies and people want his reviews. He's not just a guy reviewing anything just to make some money.

See, I agree with Lisawriter that it is a pretty sweeping statement to say:
"Personally, I think any review – on a blog or on Twitter – is immediately de-valued if the author is being paid to write it, because the objectivity is lost."

Any review? Really?

Well, no, later both Adam and commenter Kage make it clear that some paid reviews are OK, like Roger Ebert's, for what seem to me to be totally specious reasons. Getting paid is OK if "people want the reviews"? Or if someone "loves" what they review?

Couldn't that apply to bloggers and Twitterers too?

Well, clearly it could, so does Adam simply have a problem with the medium of blogs and Twitter? It is not the skill, desire or market for the reviewer's output that matters, but where he or she publishes that matters? Or are we to think that no one of professional caliber writes online?

And I don't think he means that either.

Nope, what we're all saying is that quality content is desirable and inauthentic shilling is not. In any form, on any channel.

And if you're among the population who agree with that definition of what matters?

Then use the controls at your command to fix it. Make 'em pay!

When I see a comment like this:

Jillian C. York:
"Twitter lost its "purity" when Oprah showed up and the unwashed masses followed suit, with absurd daily memes and obnoxious bios."

I want to ask her: Have you heard of unfollowing??

Because Jillian is not complaining about fraud or hate speech. This isn't a debate like the one about whether Facebook should really allow hate groups, but not breastfeeders.

No, she's complaining about, shudder, memes and the unwashed masses, the horror, the horror.

Hey, I tend to agree more with this commenter:

Emily:
"I think you're right that as long as it is disclosed via the #spon hastag, there's really no harm to me as a Twitter user. I wouldn't tweet about a product I didn't like just to get paid, but if a company was offering to pay me to tweet about something I actually use, I'd probably do it. It's like we're all celebrities who can get endorsement deals. Some will be shady, but some will be genuinely interesting and fun. What is killing Twitter for me is all the Social Media "Coaches" and SEO "Experts." Too much meta-Twitter for me."

If it's not memes, it's meta-Twittering that'll get ya!

Now, I don't want to get frivolous or disingenuous about it. Take this comment:

Dave Taylor Yesterday 10:07 PM
"This is really easy, gang: if you don't want to follow someone who sends out sponsored messages, then unfollow them when you see a #spon tweet.

On the other hand, when I post a "Check out my new blog post: http://www.tiny.url/" isn't that an advert? When I get tweets from people saying "Listening to XX speak about YY. Boring #conf" isn't that advertising with a direct, user feedback spin?"

As you can guess, I'm with Dave on the first paragraph...all the way. Unfollow anyone who you feel is spamming you via Twitter.

And the lovely and talented Gwen Bell, with whom I shared a rare vegan meal in Vegas, seems to be with Dave on the second paragraph too, at least according to her post: Newsflash: We're all shilling.

But while I actually agree that people who constantly tweet their latest blog posts are annoying, and while I may personally think the phrase "Please Retweet" should be stricken from the lexicon, I don't actually equate exchanging linky love with exchanging contracts and cash. I just don't. I don't think we're all shilling all the time, either.

There are some services/companies out there that require a tweet or retweet in order to enter a contest. I see the dozens of tweets go by, and it bugs me. I don't think it's a best practice to ask your customers to spam their followers for you in order to win something.

On the other hand, I often tweet something BlogHer is up to from the @BlogHer account and see bunches of people retweet it, unprompted.

Part of me thinks "I hope no one thinks we told people they should tweet that!"
Part of me thinks, "Wow, so cool that they think that's tweet-worthy".
All of me thinks that it was those twitterers choice to retweet it, and their readers can choose to like it or lump it...to keep following or hit Unfollow in frustration.

Here's an example: I have twice tweeted from my personal Twitter account, unprompted, about a BlogHer sponsor/advertiser. Once about Kozy Shack introducing soy pudding, once about discovering that Clorox Green Works considers "not testing on animals" to be one of the core principles a "natural" product should follow.

Well, most people who follow me know I am one of BlogHer's few, proud, token vegans. I don't blog/tweet much about politics anymore, but I still try to represent the vegan view when I can. I also subscribe strongly to the "vote with your wallet" theory...rewarding and punishing company policies by buying or not buying whenever I can. I was genuinely excited when I saw both of those things from a sponsor. In each case I disclosed they were a BlogHer sponsor. In each case I wasn't paid to do so, nor was it part of some deal with them that I would do so.

Some might argue I shouldn't have tweeted anyway, because BlogHer collects money from these sponsors, and I am paid by BlogHer. But then I suppose a newspaper shouldn't review a movie who's production company advertises in their paper either, right?

The big issues, IMHO, are:

1. Disclosure. Meaning: You better haz it.

2. Context. Meaning: Is it at all authentic that the person would tweet about something? Is it at all relevant? To the writer? To their readers? I'm about to unfollow a tweeter who mostly tweets self-promotional stuff about her online business, not because her tweets aren't relevant to her and what she does, not because I don't think she sincerely is passionate about her business. But because it turns out not to be that relevant to me.

3. The church/state issue: You have to make a call on where you stand on the separation of church (editorial) and state (advertising/sponsorship). Do you think it's important to have actual physical demarcation between those two kinds of content you write/publish/support? If you do, better do it consistently, because you're setting expectations. (And might I add, it's those reader expectations that the FTC seems most concerned about.)

Here in the social media space, we all get to decide.

We get to decide what kind of publisher we want to be.
We get to decide which partners are the right partners, whose policies you can live with.
We get to decide who is worth keeping in our blog reader, in our twitter feed.

Will PPT Ruin Twitter?

Not my Twitter.

I'm speaking in my own home region this coming week

2009-06-05T19:18:00.000-07:00

This Tuesday I'm speaking for the eWomen Network's San Mateo County chapter.

The topic?

Oh, come on now!

Here's the description:

Raise your Voice while Raising your Ability to Connect, Share & Promote yourself through Blogging
Blogging has moved beyond a niche techie tool to a mainstream form of communications for American women. In fact, over half of American women online participate in the blogosphere weekly. What are they doing? They're transforming their own lives, and some of them are changing the world. Blogging can help women raise their voice, raise their profile and raise their expectations. This presentation will explore why and how women are using blogs today and provide specific steps to getting started in the blogging world!

At this powerful event you'll learn:

Why you should care about what's going on in the blogosphere and how to capture your audience

The basic components of a blog, and exactly how much or how little technical know-how you need to succeed

Learn some of the most effective uses of blogging as a professional tool

I think it only costs $35 and includes dinner, so if you're interested, I hope you'll come.

They are VERY into networking at these things. Perfect if you're a closet introvert like me who might otherwise stand in the corner.

Come on, you know you want to. (And if you're one of the many Silicon Valley-ites impacted by this recession? You might need to too!)

Will I see you there?

NYC, here I come

2009-05-31T11:33:00.001-07:00

It's Internet Week in NYC, and I'm there. Completely coincidentally, and without much chance to participate!

OK, the one thing I'll be doing is speaking again at MediaBistro Circus. Really looking forward to talking about new media business models. Couldn't be a more urgent topic for the media industry right now, could there?

I'm not so much looking forward to following the Cirque du Soleil!! Yup, MediaBistro has lined up an act from the Cirque to perform for attendees. And due to their performance schedule, they've got to be slotted in right before the closing panel.

Normally, it would be awesome to close out a conference. But somehow, I'm not thinking coming between the Cirque and the cosing reception is the plum spot...can you say hard act to follow and being a barrier between attendees and their cocktails! Good luck to us, that's all I have to say :)

The rest of the week BlogHer's sales team has my time almost completely booked. I'll be out and about presenting our 2009 Women and Social Media Study in some detail.

I'll also try to fit in meeting up with a few folks to catch up, both industry and friends from my former life living in NY.

Thinking catching a Broadway show might not be in my future this week, which is a real shame, considering the Tony Awards are a week from today.

Boy, how my trips to NYC have changed...from the theatre to the Internet. What a long,strange trip it's been!

Quick thought: How can there be six conferences about Twitter? And as always...where are the women?

2009-05-24T12:02:00.000-07:00

I read Leena Rao's post on TechCrunch about Six small conferences about Twitter, first with some amazement, and then with a feeling of familiarity.

Amazement because: I too find it ironic to have so much content swirling around about an application built (and widely adopted) based on the concept of brevity

Familiarity because: Wouldn't you just know that every speaker Leena calls out in her post is a man? Surely, that can't be, I thought. And it wasn't when I actually went to each site and review their speaker pages and did the math. But the ratio wasn't great. Less than 30% women across all six conferences...and that was mostly on the backs of one or two of the events that had pretty good ratios.

My experience of twitter is so different than that ratio reflects. Much as my experience of the blogosphere was so different than such things as speaker rosters and "top blogger" lists reflected 4 years ago when we started BlogHer.

My twittersphere is dominated by women. The power players in my twittersphere are women.

And dare I say that the people actually creating interesting *content* in my twittersphere are women. Having robust debates. Sharing wry observations. Egging their followers on to action.

I follow all the same "big guns" as anyone else, and what I often get from them are a bunch of links. At best, signpost links to interesting stuff other people are doing or talking about. That's a time-honored social media segment...the signpost blogger, the signpost twitterer. Robert Scoble. Guy Kawasaki. but often, just self-promotional links. Certainly we post a lot of links in Twitter via our @BlogHer account. We also do a lot of direct customer support via that account.

I just hope that while all these conferences are talking about Twitter, the potential traffic driver and marketing tool, they also give it its due as a community-builder, as a relationship-enhancer, as a conversation-driver, as a social-change-agent, as a window-to-my-most-ephemeral-but-therefore-most-uniquely-me-thoughtsand as a lot of other hyphenates that aren't really about how many followers you have or how many referrers you get.

In my corner of the twittersphere, enriched by the heavy adoption of women bloggers (some stats on that cross-usage are in our 2009 Women and Social Media Study, in case you have not checked it out yet) Twitter is all of that. And I think it's noteworthy. Conversation-worthy. Perhaps even conference-session-worthy.

But I'm still amazed that it's six-conferences-worthy. Call me old-skool, we're sticking with a couple of sessions on Twitter and similar apps at BlogHer, not even an entire track!

Practically Luddites!

The Anita Borg Women of Vision Awards banquet

2009-05-10T17:08:00.000-07:00

Last year BlogHer was honored to win the Anita Borg Social Impact Award, and then I was honored to be invited to participate on the Nominating Committee for this year's Women of Vision Awards. (I know, that's a lot of being honored.) What does a nominating committee do? Well, they try to find excellent people to nominate or try to get colleagues to nominate excellent people they know. I worked with colleagues to nominate three different women, and I knocked it out of the park as a firs-timer on the committee, because on of my nominees, Mitchell Baker from Mozilla, won the Leadership Award.

The banquet event honoring the winners, including Mitchell, was inspiring...inspiring to be among so many great women geeks, and inspiring to hear some of them share their experiences and their expertise.

My two personal faves (and I admit to being biased re: the latter) were Cisco CTO Padmasree Warrior and Mitchell.

Warrior (and what a great name, right?) sounded like someone who just gets it, from business skills, to career management, to people management, to Twitter, for that matter!

Mitchell brought something a little new to the table...not just being more webby than the average ABI Woman of Vision, but being a proponent of open source and the open Internet. A lot of the folks there were from academia, where such openness is really foreign to them.

Met other fascinating women there too, including re-meeting Sydnie Kohara from the local CBS affiliate and Drue Kataoka from ValleyZen (intriguing concept) who also wrote about the evening and posted many shots here.

Here are my two, far less well-done photos!

Congrats to the inaugural winner of NCWIT's Symons Innovator Awards

2009-05-09T15:59:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow I'm headed to a function honoring the winner of the inaugural Symons Innovator Award, presented by the National Center for Women and Information Technology (NCWiT).

NCWIT created the Symons Innovator Award, named in memory of Jeanette Symons, to highlight women’s accomplishments in innovation by recognizing one outstanding woman IT entrepreneur each year. This year’s award recipient is Anousheh Ansari: the first woman private explorer in space, the title sponsor of the Ansari X Prize, and founder of Prodea Systems and Telecom Technologies, Inc.

You can read more about NCWIT, the Award, Ms. Ansari and Jeanette Symons, for whom the award is named, in the NCWIT press release.

Last week I went to the Women of Vision Awards Banquet, put on by the Anita Borg Institute. I still need to write that up and post some pictures.

But let's just say that there's nothing like reading about these award winners and what they've accomplished to both inspire you...nad light a fire under your butt to accomplish more with your life!

Smart People Talking About Important Things: Tara Hunt

2009-05-09T10:10:00.000-07:00

OK, so I haven't quite turned my Smart People Talking about Important Things™ idea into a series yet, but here's video #2.

I attended a lovely book launch party for Tara Hunt and her newly-published tome, The Whuffie Factor, yesterday evening.

Before cutting to the very creatively decorated cake (picture at the end for my foodie friends) Tara spoke a bit about whuffie and answered a couple of questions from the friends gathered there.

She very kindly cited BlogHer as an example of one of her key steps to building whuffie (Step #3, Embrace the Chaos!) and I also learned yesterday that she quotes me in the book! I'm quite proud and flattered.

It was great to see Eugene Kim and Adina Levin, both of whom I haven't seen in ages. And great to meet Nilofer Merchant, the hostess, and a prominent leader in the Valley.

And it was great to hear Tara talk about whuffie for about 10 minutes:

Oh, and as promised, the awesome cake:

BlogHer : Cracking the code on bloggers, editorial content and paid content

2009-05-07T10:40:00.000-07:00

All day long I have been meaning to come over here and post a link to a post I'm very proud of. Every now and then Lisa, Jory and I collaborate to put a stake in the ground via a post on BlogHer.

With all of the many conversations buzzing about bloggers, the FTC, advertising, editorial, the decline of traditional media and more, we decided to make our position crystal clear. We wanted to revisit how we set up the standards and guidelines by which we run BlogHer and the BlogHer Publishing Network. We wanted to remember why we chose to do things that way. And in doing so, I feel like we reinforced our commitment to those policies.

The post is: The elephant in the room: How BlogHer is cracking the code on editorial content and paid advertising.

And I hope you'll read it...and the ensuing comments.

This should not be a controversial post

2009-05-02T13:14:00.000-07:00

It is my belief that images of porn don't belong in a technical talk at a conference.

It is my belief that video of ever-more-scantily-clad women servicing adolescent-minded grown men doesn't belong in a business model talk at a business conference.

And yet the former happens.

And the latter happens.

In this decade, not the 70s.

And what's worse than those things happening, is that the reaction to those who dare to say "Hey, that is not OK" hasn't changed much over the years. It is still some variant of "Don't be a humorless, uptight, feminist."

Well, this proud, humorless, uptight feminist wants you to know this: If you can't make your point, your case, your argument, without tossing in a little objectification of women...your point, your case, your argument is probably weak.

And if you can't hold an audience's attention without tossing in some sexisim with a side of offensiveness, then you are probably not that great a speaker. You'd be better off working on your own skillz to make up for that. Just a thought: Self-improvement over the denigration of "others".

Just a thought. Just my advice. Take it or leave it. But can you disagree with it?

Interview with NCWIT: Love, passion, beauty and poetry in social media

2009-04-29T17:51:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago Lucy Sanders, CEO and Co-Founder of the National Center for Women & Information Technology and NCWIT founding board member Larry Nelson interviewed me about social media, BlogHer and entrepreneurship. it will eventually be on the NCWIT site as part of their series on Entrepreneurial "Heroes", but for now it's posted on the W3W3 network. [Blog post] [MP3]

I'm actually really pleased with the interview...it's a pretty comprehensive look at my background and philosophy!

Up until about the 5 minute mark it's about BlogHer, then at the 5 minute mark I launch into my description about why social media, including blogs and Twitter, is so powerful and important. That's where I talk about love, passion, beauty and poetry!

Larry and Lucy asked some interesting questions about what has been "hard", about "balance" and even about the future...and I enjoyed waxing verbose about it all.

The whole interview is about 24 minutes long, so please check it out here.

BlogHer releases second annual Women and Social Media Study

2009-04-28T10:15:00.001-07:00

This morning BlogHer released our second annual Women and Social Media Study, this year working again with Compass Partners and also with iVillage, to take a more granular look at how women are using social media tools...including blogs, message boards and forums, social network sites like Facebook and MySpace and status updating tools like Twitter.

The press release is here (and the headline of course provides a clue about one of the main differences between how we use these tools:

BlogHer Finds Women Online Twice As Likely To Use Blogs Over Social Networking Sites As Trusted Source of Information

The executive summary of the entire Study is here:

2009 Women and Social Media Study by BlogHer, iVillage and Compass Partners

My BlogHer post introducing it is here:

BlogHer Releases Second Annual Women and Social Media Study: It's all about you!

Look forward to everyone's thoughts. Forgive my bias, but I find the data pretty fascinating :)

Serendipitous alignment: A Twitter Book and "Whuffie Math"

2009-04-16T17:07:00.001-07:00

This morning I participated in a fun project Marketing Diva Toby Bloomberg is wrangling: A Twitter book. She is interviewing various social media types about various aspects of the social media space, and asking them to provide their responses in the form of a series of tweets. We interviewees are numbering our tweets and including the hash tag #smgps, and from that she is pulling together the content.

Toby asked me to answer the question: What would make for a good blogger relations program, from the blogger's perspective?

You can find my thread here.

Amongst my tweets, I made the following points I make whenever I speak to any audience of marketers:

ElisaC: Forget “A-List”. Find *your* List…30 bloggers who care abt what you do, who write abt what you do & who don’t mind being pitched! 5 #smgps

about 9 hours ago from TweetDeck · Reply · View Tweet
ElisaC: Bloggers make it easier to figure out who they are, yet few marketers bother to invest the time. They’re obsessed with the “A-List” 4 #smgps

about 9 hours ago from TweetDeck · Reply · View Tweet

I sing this tune all the time. I sing it because back in my consultancy days I heard, pretty much every time, "can you get us covered by Boing Boing? or Dooce?" It's like they visited that completely useless dinosaur, the Technorati Top 100, and decided that was all that mattered.

But it so does not matter.

And then I read a past from BlogBuddy Tara Hunt today, entitled: Whuffie Math.

She is singing my tune with a hilarious story that is also absolutely spot-on, boiling down to this:

So, I could send the book to 20 influential types and probably even get one or two of them to read it. Then blog about it? [snip] So, if I add it up, the sum total of possible blog posts here is 0, which leads to the reach of…0.

However, of those that answered my tweet and asked for a book are actually looking forward to the book. This group is busy, too. Career and lives get in the way, so I probably will see about half of them able to actually get to reading the book in the near future. And, as blog posts fall off from reading, Maybe 5 of them will actually get around to posting something. Say, their collective readers are somewhere around 500 - and that number is really conservative, since most blog posts will see long term hits, even those with a low readership (I will also do my best to drive people to those posts). Adding this column up, I see a sum total of possible ‘eyeballs’ reading about the book being 500.

And from the test earlier, 500 is greater than 0.

Yes. Exactly. Read her whole post. I obviously only excerpted a small, valuable chunk, but there are more valuable chunks to be read. And I agree with them all.

Today our philosophies serendipitously aligned!

Quick links: Other smart folks on the whole AP/WSJ "bloggers and Google are parasites" kerfuffle

2009-04-14T17:55:00.000-07:00

I already shared my own rant about the short-sightedness the traditioanl media has been showing of late. But far be it from me to not share the love with some other fine rants on the same topic:

Erick Schonfeld of Tech Crunch wrote this right-to-the-point post: That Whining Sound You Hear Is The Death Wheeze Of Newspapers.

Favorite excerpt:

The worst part about their whining is that it is completely hypocritical. While newspaper chiefs are complaining in public about Google, their editorial departments are sprouting blogs and their technology departments are using every SEO trick in the book to make sure their articles show up in Google searches and Google News.

Erick also points us to another awesome post from Danny Sullivan of Search Engineland: Google's Love For Newspapers & How Little They Appreciate It.

Favorite excerpt:

Perhaps all the papers should get together like Anthony Moor of the Dallas Morning News suggests in the same article:

"I wish newspapers could act together to negotiate better terms with companies like Google. Better yet, what would happen if we all turned our sites off to search engines for a week? By creating scarcity, we might finally get fair value for the work we do."

Please do this, Anthony. Please get all your newspaper colleagues to agree to a national "Just say no to Google" week. I beg you, please do it. Then I can see if these things I think will happen do happen:

Papers go "oh shit," we really get a lot of traffic from Google for free, and we actually do earn something off those page views
Papers go "oh shit," turns out people can find news from other sources

Papers go "oh shit," being out of Google didn't magically solve all our other problems overnight, but now we have no one else to blame.

So simple who can use it?

2009-04-11T12:34:00.001-07:00

Have to stop and applaud Stacey Higginbotham's post for GigaOm entitled Let’s Stop Confusing Moms With Technology-Fearing Simpletons.

Arguments in the comments aside on whether this is referring to gender, generation or time impoverishment, I hear this facile question along the lines of "is it simple enough that your mom could use it?" all the time. I, most of the time, shout out from my seat "Or your dad?" Most people ignore the crazy lady when she dares to speak from the audience like that.

I think it's a combination of gender and age stereotyping, personally. When someone says this, they're typically thinking about their mom, not the fact that they themselves or their peers could be moms.

But even this kind of age stereotyping needs to stop. While premier elderblogger Ronni Bennett might be surprised that numbers of boomer and older blog readers and writers aren't even higher, both the latest Pew report and BlogHer's own benchmark study from last year indicate that the over-45 crowd is adopting new communications and media technology very nicely, thank you.

So, yes, let's put this old saw to rest.

If you mean that your hardware, software or online app has handled accessibility issues well, so your friends with visual impairments or less-than nimble hands or other similar physical challenges can use it with no problem...just say so.

If you mean that you have created a tool that doesn't require intimate knowledge of HTML, CSS, PHP or other languages or technologies that people of all ages know nothing about...just say so.

If you mean that your tool or product has measurable value for someone whose life and livelihood does not require them to be online or even on a computer all day...just say so.

Just don't talk about my momma!

Are the folks who run the AP and WSJ stupid, or just irrationally blinded by fear?

2009-04-09T12:52:00.000-07:00

...or do they believe that old saw that "any press is good press", even press that makes you look hopelessly out of touch?

The latest in kerfuffle comes as various honchos from a couple of mainstream media sources say they are "mad as hell and aren't going to take it anymore" that news "aggregator sites" are linking to them without compensating them.

Those aggregator sites include Google News and TechMeme.

Now, both Google and Techmeme are capable of defending themselves:

Gabe Rivera quite rightly states:

"All successful Web publishers want their content quoted and linked," Rivera wrote in an e-mail to CNET News. "The benefits are clear. Some prefer that the quotes remain short...these are precisely the kind that Google and Techmeme use. So for AP and News Corp. to discourage quoting is a clue that they don't really get the Web and are in danger of shooting themselves in the foot."

Of course key phrase is "successful Web publishers". Do some of these complainers qualify?

Meanwhile Google takes a legalistic approach in their blog:

In the U.S., the doctrine of fair use enshrined in the US Copyright Act allows us to show snippets and links. The fair use doctrine protects transformative uses of content, such as indexing to make it easier to find [pdf]. Even though the Copyright Act does not grant a copyright owner a veto over such uses, it is our policy to allow any rightsholder, in this case newspaper or wire service, to remove their content from our index -- all they have to do is ask us or implement simple technical standards such as robots.txt or metatags.

Not to mention that they can track exactly how many millions of clicks per month they send to newspaper and other contact sites.

What really bugs me about the out-of-touch statements from the folks at AP and WSJ is that they purport to understand the motivations of the user, whether casual reader or blogger. But I've seen no data (unlike Google and its billion clicks to content sites a month).

The WSJ's Robert Thomson states:

"Google encourages promiscuity -- and shamelessly so -- and therefore a significant proportion of their users don't necessarily associate that content with the creator."

Where is your data Mr Thomson?

Because this promiscuous user is actually quite well aware of where I click and who is responsible for the content. And I would probably never read your content if I wasn't directed to it by Google or Techmeme or other blogs, etc. How's that surviving via subscriptions thing going? Not so good, right...because you can't get enough people to subscribe to pay your bills. Do you think if you remove your content from these so-called aggregator sites all those people who click to you via those sites will magically realize they can't live without you and subscribe? Or pay for your site's content?

Think. Again.

And ask the NY Times how NY Times Select went for them.

You can complain about how we've been "socialised" -- wrongly you believe -- that content should be free, or you can fix your model without penalizing sites that are more likely helping you than hurting you.

Meanwhile, this is what the chairman of the AP thinks about me, the blogger:

"We can no longer stand by and watch others walk off with our work under misguided legal theories. We are mad as hell, and we are not going to take it any more."

"Misguided legal theories". Would that be fair use to which he is referring?

Of course, this isn't the first time the AP has talked big about cracking down about linking and excerpting. The same thing went on last June...targeting bloggers, not "aggregators". You can read how well that went on this BlogHer post by Kim Pearson. I love this part of her smart report:

One of the ironies of this entire dispute is that AP is a cooperative that pools and shares content by members, in addition to the content it generates for its subscribers. In other words, even though it was created when the telegraph was the high-tech means of news distribution, it functions in ways that are analogous to sites such as Drudge Retort and even group blog sites such as BlogHer. Not only that, but in the 19th century, the AP fought it's own version of the net neutrality battle -- it had to fight Western Union for the right to have its own telegraph wires. Now, as AP sees its business model threatened by the rise of social media, it is flailing to find ways of ensuring its survival.

Back then a lot of bloggers, including me, said Well, I guess I won't be linking to AP stories at all anymore. Who wants to have to keep track of exactly how many words are OK if even 40 words is considered too much? Who wants to give them link love if they don't appreciate the love?

Mainstream media folks don't seem to get one very important thing: Bloggers don't hate you, we love you. We are very well aware that you are wonderful information resources for us. We also enjoy having your reports act as catalyst for our personal commentary. We link link link to you like nobody's business. You think we don't realize that, of course we do.

Take away your traffic from Google and blogs...what would you be left with? I'm sorry if you aren't monetizing that traffic, but that isn't actually my fault as a blogger, nor as a reader.

And you cannot stem the flood of people abandoning paper for bits, if that's your hope. Now that your user is online...and believe me, we are...it's your job to figure out how to run your business in this new reality.

You simply aren't going to be able to turn back that clock.

So, you got your PR. You probably got your bump in traffic.

Now, what are you going to do with it?

Another day, another conference...will I see you there?

2009-03-31T17:41:00.000-07:00

In recently listing a string of conferences where I'm speaking, I forgot to mention one that I'm attending even though I'm not speaking. OK, OK, I am an advisory fellow to the Society for New Communications Research (and a Founding Fellow, thank you very much) but Jen McClure and crew know how to put on a good (and by that I mean productive) event.

And thus ends the longest introductory sentence to a blog post that I have ever written.

So, any of you planning to join me at:

The 5th Annual New Communications Forum
April 27th - 29th, 2009
Marriott Hotel
4th & Mission
San Francisco, CA
http://www.newcommforum.com/2009/

If you are, register now with the discount code SNCRFRIEND to save $100.

That means you can participate in the entire 3-day conference for only $695 or go for one day for only $395.

NewComm Forum, like BlogHer, is celebrating its fifth anniversary, and in case you've never heard me mention it before: The very first NCF is where I met my BlogHer co-founder Jory Des Jardins for the very first time! Obviously a great networking event ;)

The point is to bring together thought leaders and decision makers to discuss the impact of social media and emerging communication tools, technologies, and models on PR and corporate communications, marketing and advertising, media and journalism, business, culture and society. The Forum provides an in-depth exploration of the future of communications. In its five year history, it has come to be known as one of the world’s leading conferences focusing on the latest trends in new emerging media and communications platforms.

Like BlogHer Business, New Comm Forum focuses pretty closely on real-world, practical information, including case studies, not just pie-in-the-sky.

So, will I see you there?

See me (and some other smart women) this week

2009-03-29T08:59:00.001-07:00

Just a reminder that I think there is still time to register for the third annual Invent Your Future, a conference focused on women and leadership, taking place this week in Santa Clara, CA.

Personally, I'll be speaking on a panel on Wednesday afternoon, entitled Survival Skills for Leaders, alongside Slideshare CEO Rashmi Sinha (a former BlogHer keynote speaker) and Anita Borg Institute Community Programs Manager BJ Wishinsky. We're going to talk about networking, online and off, and some time today I have to figure out how to execute an idea I came up with (silly me) to visually represent our own career trajectories and how they have been impacted by connections and networking. Then we could introduce ourselves, but have it be relevant and interesting, not just something everyone sits through to get to the good stuff.

In my head it sounded really cool, but I have not yet quite gotten it down on "paper". I keep hoping Rashmi or BJ will finish their first, and I can just use whatever brilliant template they create to make mine. (Considering how busy we all are, they're probably hoping the same.)

The entire agenda is jam-packed with cool stuff, including Tuesday night's welcome reception and kickoff session with Rachel Maddow.

So, will you be there?

Audio interview with Dan Patterson/ABC News Radio

2009-03-21T07:04:00.000-07:00

As per usual, had an energy-intensive tome at this year's SXSW. There were some great parts and, as 'm sure happens to people at BlogHer too, there were some times I was kicking myself for missing one panel for another...and questioning my choices.

I also did a few interviews while there, which I'll post as they go live. Had a great time talking to Dan Patterson from ABC News Radio. He also spoke on a panel on the Intersection of Politics, Technology and Pop Culture. My favorite moment of that panel was when Dan handily dismissed another panelist's argument that "Twitter etc. have gotten so full of noise. (IMagine that uttered with elitist ennui.) As Dan so rightly pointed out: These apps are enabling great things to happen. Meanwhile, we control the noise. If you don't like noise, don't follow the noise maker. (I'm paraphrasing here.)

Dan also told me that he once worked for musician Tom Waits, so we had some fun talking about Waits and his music and his general interestingness as a person and artist.

Oh, yeah, and Dan interviewed me about BlogHer.

It's a very efficient and information-packed few minutes.

Enjoy :)

Lisa Stone on Obsessed TV

2009-03-03T13:36:00.000-08:00

Great and substantive interview with Lisa where she shares a little of the personal, a little of the professional, a little of the political. Just the way I like it!

I'm back, and with lots of impending speaking gigs

2009-03-03T06:58:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone, After four weeks of travel and then frenzied preparation and two weeks of real, live, honest-to-God vacation: I am back. I can honestly say that this was the longest vacation I have ever taken while employed, even self-employed. I think I was mostly successful at not checking in to work, not thinking too much about work and certainly not doing any work. (It's stopping the thinking about it that is the hardest.)

I'm back just in time, though, because there is a lot going on!

First of, of course, BlogHer '09 is starting to loom on the horizon. We announced the schedule and a significant majority of the speakers, and are adding more every day, as you can see by checking out the agenda. I can officially tell you that I think we'll sell out quite early this year...ticket sales are going like gangbusters, so there is work, work, work to be done!

But in addition, March/April seems to be the speaking season for me.

Starting tomorrow evening, March 4th, when I'll talk about "Blogging for Business...How Blogging Became my Business" for the Silicon Valley Chapter of the eWomenNetwork.

More details and info on how to sign up is here.

Next comes a biggie: I'll be taking my "Love and Underpants" show on the road at SXSW Interactive on Monday March 16th. If you'll be in Austin with me, 3000 geeks and the bats, give a holla!

I return home and leave two days later for Vegas Baby, to speak at the Boomer Summit about building online community (and how Boomers are actually out in force online).

Luckily my next gig requires no travel, as I'll be speaking on leveraging social media for self-advancement for the Invent Your Future Conference, right here in Santa Clara.

Finally at the very end of April I expect to be in Chicago for the Marketing to Women Conference. BlogHer is doing its annual refresh of our Social Media Benchmark Study, and I'll be unveiling some results there!

So, I never planned to have the Spring be so jam-packed, and after only a couple of days my vacation already seems like a lifetime away, but there you have it. That's what I'm up to for the foreseeable future.

Will I see any of you at any of those places?

In case Jane isn't enough for you, BTW...

2009-02-14T08:19:00.001-08:00

NewYorkology has a list of other Broadway shows that are blogging or otherwise participating in social media.

See, my Worker Bees business (originally started to help arts and non-profit organizations leverage blogging etc.) was totally ahead of its time!

BlogHer's latest initiative: BlogHer BackTalk...a videoblog

2009-02-11T10:04:00.000-08:00

Today BlogHer launched a new project, the BlogHer BackTalk™ videoblog.Lisa introduced the concept the other day in this post. Today the first show is live, focused on when you...and everyone you know from your past...and even your kids...get in on the social networking craze. In other words: Will you friends "friend" you on Facebook?

Featuring Erin Kotecki Vest, Chris Jordan, Kelly Wickham and Lindsay Ferrier, the first episode is fun, particularly an interview with Linsday's teenage daughter about how she had ot think twice about friending Lindsay!

There's also a guest appearance by Liz Thompson from This Full House. We're hoping folks will submit their own little video clips and that many more guest appearances are on their way!

So, check it out, and welcome to BlogHer Backtalk!

BlogHer is a finalist for the Bloggies

2009-01-26T17:12:00.000-08:00

In the category: Best Community Weblog (Isn't it cute how they still call them "weblogs"?)

There are so many blog awards programs now, but honestly a lot of them see designed more to drive traffic and links to their creators than to honor great blogging. The Bloggies have an interesting process, and have been around for a while, so we're thrilled to make the cut this year.

The awards will be given out at SXSW, which I'll be attending. (And actually I have to do a bit more research to figure out if they let winners know ahead of time, I'd assume so, but who knows?) Frankly, we're up against some sites with fanatical devotees, so I'm not holding my breath!

We really are thrilled just to be nominated, but if so inclined: please vote!

Ladies Who Launch? Why, that would be me!

2009-01-25T13:42:00.000-08:00

Thanks to the Ladies Who Launch for publishing this interview with me. I found their interest in and focus on how Jory, Lisa and I work together and manage to keep our partnership strong to be very refreshing and interesting.

Reporter Susie Lacey has a totally different and vibrant approach to telling BlogHer's story, which makes this a good read even if you thought you were sick of us :)

Interview with me on "Purse Strings", a Webmaster Radio show

2009-01-24T14:08:00.000-08:00

Last month I spent some time talking with Maria Reitan about BlogHer, our DC and Boston conferences, what's coming up for Chicago and women bloggers in general. A conversation like that could go on for hours, but we kept it to a reasonable amount of time.

You can check it out here.

Two terrific Conference List resources

2009-01-12T15:46:00.001-08:00

If you're into tech, social media, blogging, feminism, marketing, and any number of inter-related topics, you'll want to check out these lists. (They did the work, so you won't have to...or me either.)

Susan Mernit's Ultra-Mega 2009 conference list

JD Lasica's 2009 conferences: Social media, tech, marketing

So far I expect to be at:

Women in Periodical Publishing in January (speaking)
She's Geeky in January (BlogHer is looking to sponsor)
Fem 2.0 in February (BlogHer is a convener, and I'll be speaking)
SXSW Interactive in March On Advisory Commitee and speaking)
What's Next Boomer Summit (speaking)
Anita Borg Women of Vision Awards in April (Was on nominating committee)
Blogging While Brown in June (BlogHer is a sponsor)
BlogHer in July (of course)

Not to mention Jory and Lisa are attending a bunch of other ones, as we divide and conquer.

Wow. I'm feeling a little overwhelmed thinking about all of that, now that I see it all listed like that.

BTW, WIPP, Boomer Summit and BLogging While Brown weren't on Susan's list...what other events are you going to that aren't mentioned?

Experiment: My first Flip Interview - Maria Niles on the Financial Bailout

2009-01-11T15:25:00.000-08:00

So, inspired partly by being interviewed by the intrepid Emily Goligoski for the Women 2.0 project, I bought myself a FlipCam over the holidays...just the lowest cost model.

And here is my first video interview: a 6.5 minute snippet of a longer interview with social media and branding consultant (and general knows-alot-about-everything guru) Maria Niles from Consumer Pop. Maria explains a bit about the financial bailout, and how it's different from the auto industry loans that were being requested.

One thing I can tell from this experiment? I need a tripod. Sometimes it gets a little too Blair Witch Project with the shaky feed. I guess I would occasionally get tired and shuft my arm.

Still, I loved the ease shooting it, and I actually used QuickTime Pro to edit it down. I will try to use Flip's own software for such work next time. Thinking it might allow you to edit snippets together more easily. All I did in this case was cut off the ending.

Anyway, it was a fun, impromptu thing to do, and I hope I'll be able to bring you other smart people talking about important things now that I have my easy peasy Flip.

(And yes, I totally did think about writing Smart People Talking About Important Things™)

Update: OK, from Quicktime this video was over 100 MB, so after uploading for ages, it got rejected because Blogger has a 100MB limitation. I had to go in and reduce the quality (i.e. compress it further) to get it below 100MB, so it could be uploaded. I'm sure there's a better way. Next time.

Who wants bias? I do! I do!

2008-12-29T17:02:00.001-08:00

Just a quick link to Louis Gray's post: Bias, Bias and More Bias. I Haz It. So Do You..

I like it. We do indeed all have bias, and while striving to be objective is a worthy pursuit, the question is how to we deal with the fact that none of us can really completely eradicate our biases. Well, I recently had a long discussion with an analyst, and I said it that how to deal with it really comes down to context and disclosure.

If you disclose enough for your readers' satisfaction, you're probably OK. And if the content you're publishing is relevant and appropriate to the context in which you're publishing it, your readers will probably be OK with that too.

One size does not fit all, because, I will repeat: There is not one blogosphere; there are many. What is good for the personal journal blogging goose may not be good for the journalistic blogging goose or the business consulting blogging good...and vice versa versa.

Context and disclosure.

New Marketing for a Struggling Broadway

2008-12-26T14:22:00.001-08:00

The NY Times has an interesting article today about how Broadway is turning to the Internet and new marketing as a way to try to survive and thrive in these times.

While they do cite some examples of truly innovative and creative uses of the medium, most notably by the creator/star of In the Heights, they also talk starry-eyed about some stuff that's just the same old tired marketing delivered via new web 2.0 tools.

That show's producer has it right when he says: "“Technology is the tool, not the destination,” Mr. McCollum said. “The destination is a live audience.”" He also opines: "His theory is that the more people gravitate toward technology, the more they will hunger for human interaction."

Exactly right.

And text messaging to enter a sweepstakes or contest may indeed use a new channel, but it's not delivering that promise of human interaction. Starting a walled garden social network attached to a Broadway show site is also using modern technology, but not embracing the modern concepts of distributing and participating all across the Internet where your audience is already hanging out, rather than trying to lure them to you.

When I started my Worker Bees consulting practice, I focused on local theatres because I thought blogging and other social media had tremendous promise to bring new and existing audience members backstage virtually and make them feel as much an integral part of any live performance as, in truth, they are.

Then, as now with BlogHer, I have a core belief that one size does not fit all in this new media world. I can't imagine why some of the ideas being tried, as described in the Times article, would actually bring people into the theatre, hearts racing as the lights dim.

But the creator of In the Heights using his own time and talents to develop something unique and share it with the world? Now, that could inspire a trip to the theatre next time I'm in NYC!

Cross-posted at the SF Bay Area Theatre Blog

The reports of blogging's death are highly exaggerated

2008-12-24T11:17:00.001-08:00

I think there are some interesting conversations going on right now re: the "Is blogging dead (and mostly because of Twitter)?" meme.

I was quoted in a Fast Company story about this as saying that each has their place...and that “blogs continue to be the place where people introduce, explore and discuss events in their lives, ideas in their minds and the causes they care about.”

While the geek digerati may occasionally be self-obsessed navel gazers who overestimate their own importance in the scheme of the blogosphere, they are certainly having an interesting conversation about just this subject (again) right now.

Some links:

Francine Hardaway rocks my world with a post entitled: "Jason Calcanis, I Love You, But You Are Wrong"

There's so much good stuff I'm having trouble finding the key excerpt, but I do think she makes a fresh point here:

"You guys who get a lot of traffic and have tried to monetize your blogs directly have asked for the trolls. In the early days, you link-loved, link-baited, and trackbacked yourselves to death. YOU established the conventions for what constitutes successful blogging by starting and fomenting the bitch-memes during the dull times. Now you have angry mobs shaking their verbal fists at you, but you stirred them up."

I'm not exactly a blame-the-victim gal...I mean no one is responsible for really bad behavior but the person exhibiting it. Still, it's valid to say that certain sites and online communities get exactly the kind of environment they foster and allow. Complaining about it later is, at the very least, not showing much 20-20 hindsight.

Then, Mike Arrington stirs the pot and gets even more personal by telling Robert Scoble he needs an intervention over his FriendFeed addiction:

Key excerpt:

"So lots of people follow Robert on those services, but they aren’t visiting his site and the content he writes is on someone else’s server. Plus all that content is just really forgettable, compared to a good thought piece that people refer back to over time. There is no direct way to monetize any of that content, which is something that a full time blogger with a family really needs to think about.
Meanwhile, all this attention from Robert has certainly helped the valuations of Friendfeed and Twitter. How much of that value does Robert receive? Zilch."

Scoble, of course, responds...and with a blog post even!

He lists the pros and cons of blogging less and mega-chatting more. You'll have to read his list yourselves to see if you agree or to judge how you weight the pros and cons he lists against each other.

Finally, Steve Rubel has his own take:

Key excerpt:

"In 2009 I think we're going to see a lot of the old guard return to their roots - their blogs. The reason is home field advantage. Why build build Twitter or Friendfeed's equity, when you can invest in the turf you spent so much time on? That said, there are tremendous advantages to doing all of the above.
Louis Gray, Chris Brogan and Jeremiah Owyang all seem to have the right model. They do it all. How, I don't know but they do. I have been blogging more lately too. I missed writing long form. My roof has a leak and I am fixing it. Scoble should do the same and I bet he will.

I wrote a post on this earlier this year: Should You Rent or Buy Social Real Estate. The answer - both. But ask first which helps pay the bills. In my case it's my blog. Twitter and Friendfeed are steroids.

As personal branding becomes a weapon in a down economy, look for blogging to make a return run."

The interesting thing is that I don't follow any of these last three guys very closely anymore, and certainly not very passionately. Their work has become less and less relevant to my daily life. I scan their stories in my feed reader, and have certainly noticed how Steve and Robert barely blog anymore. Because I am a Twitter/FriendFeed participant, but by no means an addict who must keep track of everyone's river of information and opinion, I've lost touch with the people who rely mostly on that as their means of expression.

This is a macro conversation worth reading, and I think Steve is right that more and more bloggers are going to think long and hard, and ask themselves these questions:

-What fulfills the goals I have for my online presence?
-What serves my long-term plan?
-What delivers short-term value?
-How do I weigh the different answers and decide what to prioritize?
-Perhaps most importantly: what does not deserve the mental space and hours in the day that I've giving it?

I know that some people will abandon their blogs for a mega-chat life.

But I do think 2009 will see many people return to their online roots: Blogging and reading their online community's blogs.

I do hate lazy conclusions

2008-12-18T14:19:00.000-08:00

Especially when they seem drawn simply to discredit social media and its commercial viability. Today's annoyance:

A Marketing Vox article: Older Women More Purposeful Online than Younger Peers

Actually I think the data is pretty good, and maps quite closely to the insights we were able to draw from our own March 2008 Benchmark Study of Women and Blogging [PDF], conducted with Compass Partners. One such example being that younger generations are more interested in each other's lives, older generations more interested in actionable information.

Here's what made me cranky:

Like findings in other studies, the SheSpeaks research also found that advertising on social networking sites is largely ineffective. Among those surveyed, one-quarter (26%) of respondents say they actively ignore such ads and 20% say they are annoyed by the presence of online ads on social networking sites.

My firsy question: Are those two stats additive, and could people choose only one? Meaning: Does that mean 46% were annoyed or ignored the ad? (Which, by the way, indicates that over half over respondents had no such negative reaction>)

If they're not from the same choose-only-one question of the survey, then I'm not sure how 26% ignoring an ad = "largely ineffective". That means that three quarters of the respondents do notice ads. Do we think TV viewers, newspaper readers or magazine readers are drastically different?

"Largely ineffective" is a completely subjective (and I might venture unsupported) conclusion.

Know what I mean?

Twitter, APIs, and becoming lax on security

2008-12-14T15:45:00.000-08:00

Recently I was testing out various iPhone apps for accessing Twitter, instead of simply going through the web browser on the iPhone. I finally settled on Twitterfon. I downloaded it directly for the iPhone from the iPhone app store.

After using it for a while it started inexplicably crashing. I tweeted about my issue, and then noticed a Twitterer with the handle twitterfon started following me. When I checked out their profile, they appeared to represent Twitterfon and had a link to post explaining a way to fix the crashing while waiting for Apple to approve their software update for the App store. The solution included providing your Twitter log-in. Now, here's the thing: Twitterfon is apparently created by Naan Studio, but I didn't know that. So, when I saw a page on some site based on a domain with which I was unfamiliar, and asking for my log-in info...I got suspicious. I did not provide my info and decided to wait for the update to be made available via the App store. (All this took place on my iPhone of course, so perhaps if I'd been on my laptop withe a larger screen and faster connection I would have explored more, but I didn't.)

I don't know quite why someone would do it, but it wasn't hard for me to imagine that someone could see the tweeting about Twitterfon issues, and create both the page to collect people's twitter log-in info and the Twitterfon Twitter handle and collect away.

I was reminded of this after reading this TechCrunch article on a new Twitter service, offered by someone TC proprietor Mike Arrington finds suspect.

The kicker is the final paragraph:

None of this matters that much for users. Except that they must type their Twitter credentials directly into Twitblog to test the service. That’s iffy at the best of times. But when a service is run by someone who’s shown questionable ethical behavior in the past, it’s a non-starter. The service also lacks terms of use and a privacy policy, so users won’t know how their private information may be used, sold or exploited.

No "terms of use and a privacy policy"????

I now a lot of us don't read those things carefully, if at all. Usually it's on sites where you need to register to use that site...you create an account, including your email address, and hope and pray it doesn't end up generating loads of spam or something else like that.

But I do think it's something we ought to be especially careful about when giving up private information like log-in information to a different, entirely unconnected service! Services like Twitter and Facebook have created an environment where third parties are gaining access to our log-in info. Facebook seems more secure, because it all happens within the Facebook universe, and because there is the assumption that Facebook has some authority over third party apps that are written for their site.

Not so with the various apps making use of our Twitter log-in info.

I realize it's a bit ironic that I handed over my log-in info to the Twitterfon app to begin with, but again: accessing it via the iPhone App Store gave it credibility.

How do you decide when or whether to share such info? Do you read terms of service and privacy policies? Do you notice when they aren't there? Are you getting cavalier about your log-in identities?

Most important of all: Are you one of those people who mindlessly lets Facebook apps send themselves to your entire friend community, rather than skipping that step? 'Cause you shouldn't be.

Sigh. Sometimes I don't get it.

2008-12-07T11:09:00.000-08:00

It's the holiday season, and like lots of people this is the one time of the year that I do a lot of shopping. And like lots of people I'm increasingly doing as much of my shopping online as I possibly can.

Today I tried to buy my S.O. a bunch of jeans and tees form The Gap. Nothing fancy...it's his software developer uniform, and his collection is getting a bit worn and frayed around the edge. I'll be honest: I'm 44 years old, and I don't shop for myself at The Gap anymore. BUt I do have a Gap Card, which at one time I used semi-regularly.

And they are happy to end me marketing emails every other week, you can be sure of that.

But today I discovered that because I hadn't used my card in 2 years as of October 2008, they closed my account. I discovered that because when I tried to check out using my account information, they couldn't process it.

I called and spoke to someone, and she confirmed that they had closed my account less than 2 months ago. She claims they would have sent a letter informing me. It could be true. I don't recall receiving such a letter (and October isn't that long ago) but even if they did send such a letter it was to inform me they had closed my account, not to ask me if I wanted to keep my account open.

She said i could re-apply for a card. I asked, "can't we just re-open this existing account? None of my information has changed."

No, no we couldn't. I'd have to re-apply.

As I told her: I have lots of credit cards, and in fact: There are lots of places I can buy jeans and tees.

So I cut up the Gap Card I still had been carrying, and I closed by browser window, abandoning a cart with almost $200 worth of jeans and tees in it, and I decided that I had really and truly outgrown The Gap.

Hey, I get why they'd be concerned about me not shopping in two years. But they basically ensured I will never shop there in the next two years...or ever...by deciding I didn't shop often enough to be their customer.

Alls I'm saying: These are tough times for retailers, and I just don't see how they can afford to cut customers off, customers who have a long, clean history of purchasing and paying.

Meanwhile, I ran my free credit reports recently ad discovered that some stores I had cards for when I lived in NYC (18 years ago now) still consider my account open and in good standing. I guess they are ever hopeful I'll return. And honestly, knowing they feel that way makes it just a tiny bit more likely I'll stop in their store next time I'm in NYC.

But The Gap, with an outpost in every mall in every city I ever might visit? I'm done there.

More Me Rambling On...

2008-12-04T16:18:00.000-08:00

OK, not really, I'm usually quite lucid.

In this video, shot by Emily Goligoski for the Women 2.0 folks, she does get me to go beyond the usual spiel about BlogHer and how it all began. So, if you've never heard me reference my "checkered past", this is the video to watch :)

Enjoy. And thanks Emily.

I'm a little behind, but here's some key info abut BlogHer '09

2008-12-03T16:57:00.000-08:00

You know that dream where you're running really fast, but never get to the end of the hallway? That's me and my to-do list.

So, some of this news is a bit old, but, in case you haven't heard:

We announced the dates and location for BlogHer '09.

It's July 23-25 in Chicago, IL, and you can learn all about why we chose Chicago at the link above. In addition, you'll learn that day one, July 23rd, is actually the third annual BlogHer Business Conference, newly compressed and re-scheduled to coincide with the two-day annual conference on July 24-25.

Subsequent to our big announcement, hotel reservations became available to make, and then finally: We opened registration for both conferences. Early bird pricing is in effect until 02/28/08.

Next steps: We'll be announcing the skeleton schedule for the conference on 12/15/08.

As you all may know, this is our fifth anniversary conference, and we've sold out each of our previous four conferences (plus our two previous Business conferences.) I mean, no pressure or anything.

So, will I see you in Chicago?

This month's Silicon Veggie

2008-12-03T11:51:00.001-08:00

Is the story of how one restaurant disappointed me, and another stepped up and made my night.

It doesn't take much:

-If you say you're open at a certain time, how about you stay open? Meet the basic expectations any customer should be able to have!
-If I have a special dietary requirement, but am willing to spend money in your establishment, treat me like I'm still a valued, paying customer...not a pain in your butt
-Know your stuff...and make sure your staff does too

Words for any business to live by.

Social Media Changing History

2008-11-22T08:36:00.000-08:00

I have a presentation I regularly go out and give that is all about bloggers and how they are transforming their own lives, their communities and, in fact, the world, with the simple act of blogging.

I touch on the obvious: political blogging and its impact. But I spend a lot more time illuminating the power that comes from blogging as a personal platform.

One of the things I always talk about is history. Throughout time History with a capital 'H' has focused on war, government and commerce. And until quite recently those three things were male-dominated. Thus History has really been mostly men's history. Yet, we are fascinated by the details of people's lives and culture when we find evidence of it. What is the most compelling part of Ken Burns' Civil War documentary, for example? Is it not the letters? Just regular people sharing intimate thoughts and feelings.

Blogging is changing how our history will be written. We have unprecedented access to what people across all walks of life are doing, individually and as part of societal groups.

Not only is it a gift on a very personal, individual level to hand down our lives to our children and grandchildren (or nieces and nephews, for that matter.) It is a gift to future anthropologists and historians too.

Ben Parr over at Mashable digs into this particular subject in more detail than I can as part of a larger presentation with is post: 5 Ways Social Media Will Change Recorded History. Just about everything he says resonates with me.

How about you?

Audio interview with me from Marketing & Online Communities event

2008-11-09T18:08:00.000-08:00

Bryan Person from Live World conducted a brief (~10 minute) interview with me, post-presentation at the Marketing & Online Communities Conference in NYC last week.

In but 10 minutes we covered a lot of ground, though, as Bryan's show notes reveal:

Show notes:

* Elisa recounts the genesis of the BlogHer conference and the launch of BlogHer.com and BlogHerAds.
* Elisa talks about the motivation of many mommy bloggers to leave behind a digital legacy for their children and future descendants.
* Elisa notes the overwhelming percentage of women who consider blogs as a reliable source of information, and who make decisions to buy and not to buy based on what a blogger or blog commenter writes. (Check out the BlogHer 2008 Social Media Benchmark Study [PDF] for more details.)
* Elisa offers advice to brands and PR professionals wanting to pitch bloggers.
* Elisa shares her top takeaways from the conference.

It's a pretty efficient run-down, so check it out if you are so inclined.

This month's Silicon Veggie: New Owner, New Attitude

2008-11-07T10:58:00.000-08:00

Goes all political.

Usually I try to pull in some marketing or customer care or communications issue that applies...to make it even a little bit relevant to my tiny, but loyal, Worker Bees audience.

But nope, this one is just political.

BlogHer continues its Awards roll...but this time you need to vote, or rate, or...

2008-11-03T14:04:00.000-08:00

We found out late last week that BlogHer is a finalist for the Game Changers Awards, associated with and presented at the WeMedia Conference next February in Miami, FL.

This reminds me quite a bit of the Fast Company Fast 50 awards, because it asks folks to rate the finalists and even leave a comment with your thoughts.

You can see our entry and do that rating and commenting here. (No, we didn't write the entry, by the way.)

So just like you did for the FC award, I hope if you are so inclined, you will visit their site and rate us, comment about us...and check out the other talented folks too.

Today is Email Bankruptcy Day

2008-11-03T13:42:00.000-08:00

As I've mentioned before, I've started a new policy that does nothing but make me feel falsely less burdened once per month.

On the first business day of every month I take everything left in my email Inbox, create a new folder for it, and move all those emails into it.

If it's in my Inbox that means I believe I should respond or take action on it...I'm a filer, not a piler, so the Inbox is my "Action" folder. But now, I have a string of "Action" folders by month of all the actions I just couldn't get to. That I should get to, that I want to get to, absolutely. But that I haven't gotten to and don't know if I ever will.

Now, sometimes while on a plane or in some other "trapped" situation I do go through all the old month's Action folders. I've actually managed to eliminate some months. It's not all that pretty though. Right now it looks like this:

2007: 185 messages
February '08: 46 messages
April '08: 11 messages
July '08: 36 messages
August '08: 1 message
September '08: 13 messages
October '08: 52 messages

For a grand total of: 344 messages that were at one point touched, read, and determined to be worthy of a response from me :(

See what I mean about creating a false sense of less burden?

Sigh.

If you're waiting for a response form me to an email from before today, i suggest pinging me again.

And let me just apologize, in advance, for my egregiously delayed reply!

SNCR announces first of its annual awards

2008-10-24T13:38:00.000-07:00

I am one of the original advisory fellows to the Society for New Communications Research, run by the fabulous Jen McClure. As a (usually very delinquent) member of the Best Practices Committee I did help do some judging for the SNCR Excellence in New Communications Awards. I judged the, no surprise, online community category.

This week SNCR announced not the winners of those category awards, but rather the Innovator, Visionary, and Brand of the
Year Awards. They're a pretty prestigious bunch:

Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff, co-authors of Groundswell, the 2008 SNCR Visionaries of the Year
The Visionary of the Year Award is presented to individuals whose ideas and achievements have contributed
inspiration and leadership to the evolution of the new media and communications landscape. (Go Charlene! You know she was an original advisor to BlogHer '05, and has been a true friend of BlogHer ever since. But no, I didn't pull any strings for her; I didn't need too clearly.)

Twitter founders Jack Dorsey, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams, the 2008 SNCR Innovators of the Year
The Innovator of the Year is awarded to the organization or individual(s) whose technological innovations had the most impact on the communications and media industry.

Dell, Inc., the 2008 SNCR Brand of the Year
The Brand of the Year is awarded to the organization that made the most significant advances in utilizing new communications and social media tools, technologies and practices.

These special award winners will be honored at the Society for New Communications Research Symposium & Awards Gala, which will be held at the Hotel Marlowe in Cambridge Mass. on Friday, November 14th.

More information and online registration is available at http://sncr.org/symposium08/.

In addition, at this gala event, the Society will announce and honor the winners of the SNCR Excellence in New Communications Awards. The Society's prestigious awards program honors individuals, corporations, nonprofit organizations, educational institutions and media outlets that are pioneering the use of social media, ICT, mobile media, online communities, virtual worlds, and collaborative technologies in the areas of business, media and professional communications, including marketing, public relations, and advertising as well as entertainment, education, politics, and social initiatives. Awards are granted in six
divisions: Corporate, Government, Media, Nonprofit/NGO, Academic, and Technology Innovation, and in seven categories: Online Reputation Management; Behind the Firewall; Blogger Relations; External Communications and Communities; New Media Creation; Collaboration and Co-creation; and Mobile Media. The entrants submit their entries as case studies and all winning case studies will be published in New Communications Review

(Those are some of the case studies I reviewed and provided by feedback on, but I don't know who the winners are myself.)

Sadly, I am completely traveled out, and after my next trip back East have vowed to stick around the home front for the rest of 2008, so I won't be there in person. I have, however, made SNCR's New Comm Forum every Spring since its inception (in 2005...that's where Jory Des Jardins and I met actually) and can tell you Jen knows how to put on a conference.

Anyone going?

BlogHer on an Awards roll

2008-10-16T15:08:00.000-07:00

This is a total brag post. Feel free to move along, nothing to see here, if that offends you!

BlogHer is on a roll when it comes to getting outside recognition and validation of what we're up to. Let's be clear that 99% of the time we're paying attention to what our customers say...sponsors, advertisers and most vocally and actively: bloggers. But every now and then it feels pretty good when you get a little love from folks who are not so closely intertwined with your every day business.

Like when we came in at #12 in the Fast Company Fast 50 Readers' Favorites.

Like when we were honored to win the 2008 Anita Borg Institute Social Impact Award.

And now, when we are a finalist for the 2008 Stevie Award for Web Site of the Year.

So, we got that going for us...which is nice.

This month's Silicon Veggie: New Owner, New Attitude

2008-10-01T20:55:00.000-07:00

I gave a once-favored, then-rejected restaurant another chance after more than a year away, and found a new owner, new chef...and new attitude towards accommodating my really-not-that-freakin'-unusual dietary requirements.

I will be back to regular customer status now, they can count on it.

And if you're interested in a great little palce in downtown Willow Glen you can read all about it here.

BlogHer Wins Anita Borg Social Impact Award, help us spend the prize money!

2008-10-01T08:31:00.000-07:00

Today over at BlogHer, I announced that BlogHer has won the Anita Borg Social Impact Award.

The Award "honors an individual or team that has caused technology to have a positive impact on the lives of women and society or has caused women to have a significant impact on the design and use of technology."

The Award was also a complete surprise because, while we had been nominated in previous years, we did not know that they roll such nominations over and were even considering us this year.

The Award comes with $10,000 in award money, and we're asking the BlogHer community what to do with that money. We came up with some starter ideas, and we hope the community comes up with even smarter ideas.

Lisa, Jory and I are honored to accept this award, which is exactly what I'll be doing on our behalf tomorrow in Colorado at the annual Grace Hopper Celebration. I'm also supposed to give a presentation on our work the following day, but I'll do what I always do: Show the amazing work going on out in the blogosphere: women using their blogs as platforms for personal, professional, political and global change.

Worker Bees Blog

The BlogHer Consumer Electronics Study: How Women Shop for Tech

Twitter vs. Google: Clash of the big babies

PSA: Blogging is not just what *you* do.

I'm speaking at the 92nd Street Y, with a panel of accomplished women

BlogHer and partner Lisa Stone on NPR's Tell Me More

Steve Jobs, Apple and the intersection of "censorship" and capitalism

Some discounts for you on my next couple NYC speaking gigs

Term sheet advice for entrepreneurs from GigaOm

Gut reaction to Facebook Timeline

Marketing: If You Can't Say Something Nice...

My immediate, gut reaction to the news about Steve Jobs

Tory Johnson's got it right!

BlogHer|bet is this week: A live virtual conference pass is available!

Rewriting the New York Times Headline: Blog Use Wanes Amongst Teenagers

Geoff Livingston goes after "vote for me" syndrome

The early days of Google, and hiring women

Time Magazine on the "Sheconomy"...was there an "aha moment"?

One week free preview week of Blogging Masters Telesummit

The Anita Borg Institute is hiring

Come join me in Seattle?

$100 Off Ladies Who Launch Seattle

Check it out, I'm in the first (business) Twitter Book!

Do you use video as part of a marketing strategy?

Some fun speaking gigs coming up

Yes, that's me using the word "totally" on Portfolio.com

Last day for earlybird pricing for Newcomm Forum 2010 | Newcomm Forum 2010

Me, on the SocialMediopolis BlogTalkRadio show

Lisa Stone on Press:Here

Lisa Stone on "Success with Moira Forbes"

They have a name: Outboarders!

Who actually says this anymore?: "Social media doesn't need ROI"

What He Said: David Carr on Twitter plus a few extra thoughts of my own

Follow-up: Audio fro last week's interview

Join me for a conversation about work-life balance

Presenting on Women and Social Media on Capitol Hill and at the White House

Twitter: Is it the place to run ads?

Listen to me live (?)

Taking control of your social media

Smart People Talking About Important Things: Bioneers

Link Round-up: The FTC and their new guidelines

A tale of two customer experiences: When "bugging" the customer works...and doesn't

"I am a Technical Woman"

I'm in good company

The thing about swag

BlogHer '09 interview links...BlogHers in their own words

Me, acting all expert-y about information overload

Is Time magazine serious?

Deadline September 7th: Submit your amazing communications initiative for a SNCR Award

My attempt to unplug

Spam me to defend yourself against spam. Good plan.

Aw, I'm a high school lesson!

Cross-post: BlogHer post on Twitter, Marketing and Tools

QoTD: "Angry, little "SEO Experts"

How many ads prompt LOLs *and* serious commentary?

Interview with Paula G...on being comfortable in one's own skin

Pay-per-tweet? Responses to it? Sigh. I never realized I was such a capitalist!

I'm speaking in my own home region this coming week

NYC, here I come

Quick thought: How can there be six conferences about Twitter? And as always...where are the women?

The Anita Borg Women of Vision Awards banquet

Congrats to the inaugural winner of NCWIT's Symons Innovator Awards

Smart People Talking About Important Things: Tara Hunt

BlogHer : Cracking the code on bloggers, editorial content and paid content

This should not be a controversial post

Interview with NCWIT: Love, passion, beauty and poetry in social media

BlogHer releases second annual Women and Social Media Study

Serendipitous alignment: A Twitter Book and "Whuffie Math"

Quick links: Other smart folks on the whole AP/WSJ "bloggers and Google are parasites" kerfuffle

So simple *who* can use it?

Are the folks who run the AP and WSJ stupid, or just irrationally blinded by fear?

Another day, another conference...will I see you there?

See me (and some other smart women) this week

Audio interview with Dan Patterson/ABC News Radio

Lisa Stone on Obsessed TV

I'm back, and with lots of impending speaking gigs

In case Jane isn't enough for you, BTW...

BlogHer's latest initiative: BlogHer BackTalk...a videoblog

BlogHer is a finalist for the Bloggies

Ladies Who Launch? Why, that would be me!

PSA: Blogging is not just what you do.

How many ads prompt LOLs and serious commentary?

So simple who can use it?