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Saturday, August 02, 2008

Are you Female? Do you Blog?

If you're reading this the answer to the first one is probably yes for about 99% of readers. And considering how popular wedding blogging has become in the last couple years it's probably at least 50% if not more for the second.

Today I ran across two really interesting articles about the same thing. Ostensibly it was about a conference that was held in NY for women bloggers. I was really amazed, though, at the different way this story was covered by two different publications. The first was from the BBC -

1) The Power of Female Blogging - I came across this article first and after reading it I felt really proud. The article talked about what a powerful force women had become in the blogging world and how companies that ignore the power of the female blogging voice were doing themselves a disservice.
I know from my own experience with wedding blogs that one good/bad blog write-up can make or break a vendor. Or suddenly someone discovers a new product/shoe/dress/accessory and it gets sold out. It's amazing the marketing power of the blog! The article said that 64% of the audience for one female blogging network had bought a product they had seen blogged. And personally I look to blogs for reviews of all types of vendors and products before I buy.
The article went on to discuss issues many female bloggers face...how to get more traffic and turn your blog into something that makes money for you without selling out to corporate interest.


But the second article from the New York Times had a different view


2) Blogging's Glass Ceiling - The beginning of this article was all about how women feel they aren't taken seriously in the Blog world, how men who blog gain more fame/notoriety (especially for political blogging) then women, and how women often get more hostility from Blog readers then men. In general how there is a glass ceiling for Blogging. FINALLY towards the end the article
went into the same issues as the first.

Since wedding blogging is pretty much a female dominated arena I can honestly say I haven't really felt the "glass ceiling" of blogging. And in general many of the blogs I read are female dominated - design, fashion, home, shopping etc. (gee I guess I'm pretty stereotypical). Maybe if I read some more political blogs or more tech blogs I might see it?

So I figured I'd do a little polling to see what you guys think! What do you think about the role of female bloggers and how powerful is the blogging voice when it comes to deciding what you buy?



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