Liveblogging from the Blogher State of the Momosphere panel.
Why moms blog:
- Working through post-partum depression
- Looking for advice and support from other moms
- Finding community
- Looking for friends
- Self-publishing; wanting to be read
- Post-election depression
About exclusion and inclusion:
Is it like high school? Are people shunning one another? Some mom bloggers think so.
How many people can you/should you link to in a blogroll? Are you excluding people if you don’t crosspost or add them to your blogroll? Some moms have removed their blogrolls.
Responding to comments is important. Sarcastic Journalist who is one of the “big girls” of blogging, shared a story about bloggers who have retaliated out of anger when she didn’t respond to comments. The momosphere has gotten meaner — maybe because it has gotten bigger. We need to remind each other that lack of response is not personal.
Niche communities have formed with geocentric bloggers, moms who blog who are close enough geographically that they can form communities offline as well.
One way people can boost their interaction from their blogs is to e-mail bloggers with their question in the subject line — they will be more likely to get a response.
The struggle of being identified as a mommybloggers:
There’s power within the community, but lack of respect outside of it, unless you’re a consumer products company looking to harness the power of the mommybloggers.
A blogger from Parents magazine said that the respect issue for moms who are topical authorities extends to the magazine as well. “It’s more of a cultural thing than just a blog issue.”
Mommybloggers note that as kids grow older, out of the toddler years, their audiences fade. Most “mommybloggers” are those with young children. Obviously, this phase is not permanent.
Monetizing their blogs:
- Someone who doesn’t, does not want to be accused of “making a buck” off her kids.
- Another mom blogs as a hobby and does not monetize.
- You’re privleged if you can blog and not do it for the money.
- Why not do it? Even if it is a hobby.
- Another mom says monetization has given her blog validity in her offline life; that friends and family have greater understanding of her commitment to her blog.
- There’s nothing wrong with making money doing what you love to do, even if that is blogging.
- We need to make sure we’re not exploited; there are a lot of commercial outlets targeting moms who blog.
Note to marketers targeting mommybloggers: Take time to read the blog before pitching your product.
Favorite quotes from this session, “meanass blogtards” and ”Googlejuice.” From one of the suits in the room, “On behalf of corporate America, I apologize.”
Tags: blogher07
Wow, thanks for posting this! Very helpful and definitely thought provoking.
Jennifer — it’s SO interesting. I hope you’re able to get to Blogher next year. I think you’d really enjoy meeting some of the other moms who blog.
Marijean, I thoroughly enjoyed meeting you last evening, at Blogher. I’m trying to remember the name of the College you mentioned, for my daughter…?
Your blog is very informative and helpful.
Sharing is one of the BEST qualities that Moms do and you do it very well.
I’ll be looking forward to hearing about today’s session’s!
my best to you … veronique
Same to you! I’ll e-mail you with the college. See you in a bit.
I thought that session was a little odd- I thought it was going to be more learning and less “discussion” – oh well.
Hi. I’m de-lurking (and living vicariously through you at the moment. I so wish I were at BlogHer). I’m not a mom, so I always feel a little “on the periphery,” so to speak. From my POV, it looks as though there’s tremendous power, and a supportive community. Looks like it was an interesting discussion.
[...] A bunch of women wrote about one session in particular that as far as I can tell was called: The Momosphere: Why Are Mommy Bloggers Mean To Each Other? [...]
It’s great to see this problem gaining increased recognition. Pretending relational aggression doesn’t exist doesn’t make it go away — and that has been the traditional way of acknowledging (or not acknowledging) online nastiness between mommy bloggers. Thanks for posting this helpful summary of what sounds like a terrific discussion — and to BlogHer for once again taking leadership on an important issue.
Thanks for posting this. I have my own thoughts about blogs – why we do it – but I also have questions. As a PR person (and blogger, who has never pitched a fellow blogger) I am curious to know the best way to pitch a blogger? I see both sides, so I understand the mistakes PR people make. Not everyone can expect that the person pitching them has time to read every blog in the blogosphere. Does that mean we shouldn’t pitch those that we know of but don’t actually read?
I think expectation has a lot to do with the success of blog pitching. If you’re pitching a blogger, it can’t be “if I give you this, you need to write about it.” That has not been successful. Developing a relationship with a blogger you want to pitch by reading, commenting and e-mailing over time is the way to go — just like the development of any relationship. Developing communities, hosting blogger gatherings of the audience you’re interested in can also work — gather input from them — ask the blogger what they’d like to get out of the relationship and respect their input. This may deserve a separate post rather than a comment!
I look forward to a full post. I understand developing a relationship, but what about those times when you need to get your message out NOW and haven’t had weeks or months to develop a relationship first? Like a new product launch? What do you do then? To answer my own question, if it were me, I’d just be brutually honest with the “target blogger” or perhaps, not pitch them at all. But what do you suggest?
Also, I know that lots of PR people aren’t blog addicts like I am, and unfortunately, they’re the ones doing the pitching – not me. Do you think people that don’t read blogs should be pitching? I haven’t thought about this before so I’m just thinking out loud here now…
Also, if you haven’t written your post yet, I’d be curious to know if you’ve ever pitched bloggers?
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good luck