Women rule the blogosphere!

Woman are not only taking the blogging world by storm but according to a recent article in the Sydney Morning Herald, women are now ruling the blogging world!

The focus of the article is Mia Freeman, former editor of Cosmopolitan and her hugely successful blog Mumamia.  Mumamia has over 300 000 monthly visits and Mia writes about fashion, celebrity, relationships and current affairs.  She says the "mummy-blog" phenomenon in particular is booming in Australia, following the lead of the pioneering US mummy blog, dooce.com, which attracts more than 4 million hits a month - bigger than any magazine in the world.

Why are modern mums turning to blogging, like mothers in the past took to tennis lessons and frilly knickers? "Because we’ve lost that sense of community with our neighbours and with our extended families, people are finding it online. It can be quite isolating being a stay-at-home mother, or a mother working part-time or just a mother being up at three o’clock in the morning with a baby that won’t sleep," says Mia.

But it is not only mums who are finding blogging so liberating, many women now use their blogs as a basis to connect with other like-minded women and as a valuable tool for attracting customers to their websites, growing their businesses and raising their profiles.

Interesting statistics on women bloggers: (This research is from BlogHer and Compass Partners)

• 35% of women aged 18 to 75 participate in the blogosphere weekly.

• Of women online 53% read blogs, 37% post comments to blogs and 28% write or update blogs.

• Of women bloggers 58% post entries at least weekly, and of those who actively read blogs, 80% do so at least once per week.

Why do women blog? (aside from business reasons)

• 65% do it for fun

• 60% to express themselves

• 46% to get information

• 41% to stay up to date on family and friends

• 40% to connect with others

• 34% as a diary

• 28% participate in the blogosphere in order to connect with others.

My goal is to promote the breadth and variety of women’s writing and to get women writing more.  A blog is a simple first step towards that.  It is a wonderful tool because it is unfiltered contact with your audience and your readership will grow slowly (or sometimes very quickly) over time.  For an inexperienced writer, blogging is a medium that allows you to develop your confidence along the way.

In talking to women through my journalistic work, many women love writing and have a goal of writing more.  FEAR is the main reason that holds us back though.  This fear is about not being a good enough writer, a fear no-one will read our work and a fear of being embarrassed.  If you set up a blog and readers aren’t knocking on your door initially, no-one else will know so it doesn’t really matter.  I have a friend who has a blog about her garden.  She started the blog because of her passion for gardening and each week she is a little perplexed by her growing readership.  You’ll be surprised how many people will also share your passion and be interested in what you have to say.

The reality is we all fear our writing will not be good enough and if we allow ourselves to always submit to this, then we’d never have the privilege of reading so much magnificant feminine literature.  Watch the wonderful talk by Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love on this website and you’ll see even the most successful writers still struggle with this notion.

Just think about where would we be today without the romance of Jane Austen to get us through the lonely nights, or the passion of Emily Bronte to remind us that there is a Healthcliffe out there for all of us?

Now seriously, in the aftermath of World War 2 our fabulous female writers started creating real change.  Back in 1949 French Author Simone de Beauvoir, penned - The Second Sex, the first real exploration into gender inequity.  How many frustrated housewives would not have broken free of miserable marriages and terrible sex lives if they hadn’t read Germain Greer’s – The Female Unick, in the second wave of feminism (70’s).  And in the next wave (90’s), Noami Wolf as she exposed the beauty industry and it’s destructive judgements upon women with her book, The Beauty Myth.

If you’d like to create change in this world and help others, then writing is undeniably a powerful phenomenon. For some real female inspiration on the power of blogging take a look at NxE’s Fifty Most Influential ‘Female’ Bloggers and Top 100 Female Bloggers by Ensha Blog.

I believe one of the best things you can do for yourself personally and professionally is to write   Setting up and writing a blog is a great first step.  Who knows where this may lead!

For more information please conact kylie@brisbanewoman.com or go to www.brisbanewoman.com