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Getting on the Technorati A-List in a Male Dominated Blogosphere

 

Are Women Bloggers Getting Left Behind?Edit: Please read through this post in it’s entirety before you assume that it is a rant, a complaint, or anything other than what I normally write about, which is empowerment for entrepreneurs.

There isn’t a week that goes by these days in which I am asked either publicly or privately about my thoughts on the lack of women in the Technorati Top 100 list. I have to admit, the question is so damn loaded that each and every time I really have to think about my answer carefully.

Honestly, I think that discrimination is an easy answer that doesn’t exactly fit the problem. I think that there are so many other forces at work here.

Before I begin, here are some fast facts:

  • Yet, more women than men are bloggers, with 20% of American women who have visited blogs having their own versus 14 % of men (Synovate.com).

Before you guys get your tightie whities in a knot, this isn’t an accusation. Here’s a few more stats for you:

According to ComScore, the most visited blog topics break down as follows:

  • 43% of people visited a political or news blog
  • 17% of people visited a “Hipster” blog
  • 15% of people visited a tech blog
  • 8% of people visited a women’s blog
  • 8% of people visited a media blog
  • 6% of people visited a personal blog
  • 3% of people visited a business blog

And keeping in mind that blogs in general are in the tech industry, overall for every one woman employed in high-tech, there are 4 men alongside her. I HAVE to say that I really think this is more because women tend to be more relationship-oriented human beings than men, generally speaking, and simply have less interest in highly technical stuff than men do.

Are the Cards Stacked Against Women Authors?

Tech and politics tend to rule the blogosphere, which are male-dominated industries outside of the blogosphere - it’s hardly fair to blame anyone around here for what is an online extension of an offline industry.

And whether or not there is discrimination in these industries, that doesn’t change the fact that fewer women pursue these opportunities than men do in the first place. Whether it be a lack of interest, lack of self-confidence, or a stronger desire for work-life balance than our counterparts, I think there are fewer women on the Technorati Top 100 because there are fewer women who want to be there.

Yet to quote Elisa Camahort from BlogHer in a discussion on Lorelle’s blog,

“I know women bloggers who blog anonymously and gender-free, particularly in the tech and politics genres, for the express purpose of “being taken more seriously.” I don’t know any men who do the reverse.”

So What Does This Mean for Women Blog Authors?

Here’s how I look at it - none of this means anything to me, Wendy Piersall, of eMoms at Home. I may be discriminated against at times, and I certainly have had some horrible and gender-abusive comments along the way - but if I buy into the belief that any of these things can stop me from reaching my goal, then it is only me stopping myself from getting there.

Getting onto the Technorati Top 100 list is hard for anyone. And the path that Michael Arrington took to get there is far different than the one that Heather Armstrong took to get there - but they both got there.

Do I wish that there were more women on the list in the first place? Of course I do. But I can only add one more site to it, my own.

If you want more than that, please let me know what I can do to help you get there, but ultimately, it’s up to you to go for it. I hope you do, because I’d love some company when I get there. :D

Hat tip to Pearl for a really thoughtful post that got me thinking about this in the first place. Photo credit: Clarita

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  • Discussion

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    Comments

    1.
    On September 18th, 2007 at 2:20 pm, lornadoone said:

    When I go to my favorite blogs on Technorati, it tells me that you haven’t updated in 18 days and says your authority is 1050. The new blogs here at eMoms don’t even register as having posts. I don’t know if it’s just my experience or if others are having it, too.

    I love watching my authority and rank for my original Something Good blog, although both have dipped from their high point and have stayed pretty stagnant for the last two months. Boo!

    2.
    On September 18th, 2007 at 2:36 pm, Wendy Piersall said:

    *Sigh* That’s a separate issue I have with Technorati.

    Of course, if I can’t get them to update my #$%*$#$ site, then yeah, it could take a little longer to get to the top 100! I’ve emailed them 4 times about it! :’(

    3.
    On September 18th, 2007 at 3:40 pm, Tamar Weinberg said:

    This is a tough one. On first thought, I’d say that women are more emotional and probably use their blogs for more of a personal purpose than a blog that is heavily linked to. But I haven’t done considerable research, so I’m not sure how accurate this hypothesis is.

    Then I noticed that there’s something else. In general, and perhaps it’s just personal preference, women write for a fraction of the blogs I read. If I do the math, I’ll probably get a number close to that 10%. Perhaps related, there is a considerable amount of blogs in the Technorati 100 that are tech-oriented. Women typically aren’t so fond of tech stuff. But bloggers are usually more tech-savvy than other folk and probably have an interest in tech blogs. Consequently, the more popular blogs are usually tech-oriented.

    These factors all probably contribute to why women are not in the male-dominated blogosphere. As for me, I’m not your average female in mindset, so I guess that’s where Digg fits. ;)

    4.
    On September 18th, 2007 at 3:52 pm, Wendy Piersall said:

    I’d have to agree with you on the tech-spin, Tamar. Even as a mom, I tend to read more male written blogs than females, but make a conscious effort to make sure I balance that out.

    And I’m also with you on the fact that we’re both probably not of your average female mindset. ;) But you ROCK on Digg, that’s for sure!!

    5.
    On September 18th, 2007 at 4:11 pm, pearl said:

    first off, I want to thank you Wendy from the bottom of my heart for such a nice mention :)

    Those are some interesting stats…to get to technorati top 100 is every blogger’s dream I bet, and its darn hard, but like you said, doesn’t matter what path you take, if theres a will, you can find a way…..

    You are an inspiration and a role model to us all Wendy, especially all the women trying hard to succeed, so although I am wayyy down there at the bottom most rung of this ladder, I wanna say, I’d love to give you company when you are there :) at least I can dream about being there :)

    You know our best wishes are with you!

    6.
    On September 18th, 2007 at 5:10 pm, Holli Jo said:

    I agree, Wendy, you are such an inspiration to the rest of us. Thanks for writing this insightful post. I’ve been thinking a lot about the same topic lately. I enjoy many of the successful blogs out there written by men, but I would love to see more successful blogs by women.

    I don’t mean to stereotype, but the blogs written by men often have the same tone to them, and it’s nice to hear a woman’s voice once in a while!

    So, keep it up with this wonderful blog. :)

    7.
    On September 18th, 2007 at 5:43 pm, scary pictures said:

    I was really surprised to read that more women than men are bloggers. I thought it was totally the opposite. That’s really encouraging to hear that women are becoming much more involved in net issues and getting involved where it really counts.

    8.
    On September 18th, 2007 at 9:16 pm, ilker -=- The Thinking Blog said:

    I can’t believe you didn’t count me! :(

    9.
    On September 18th, 2007 at 11:39 pm, Blog Bloke said:

    And here I thought Technorati was fair and unbiased. Silly me.

    Wendy, try blogging for several years and being ignored. Then you will have something to complain about.

    But who’s complaining?

    Cheers!

    …BB (male, semi-anonymous blogger)

    10.
    On September 19th, 2007 at 3:50 am, Lisa Lam said:

    Another thought provoking post Wendy. My feeling is that whilst it’s great to feature in top 100 lists, I think it’s a bit more important to write a blog that people enjoy, that people find useful, and entertaining, and you like to write! Hopefully that in itself will help your blog to rise in the charts. If not; well I’m not worried about competing against blokes, let ‘em fight amongst themselves :)

    11.
    On September 19th, 2007 at 8:02 am, Wendy Piersall said:

    Ilker - all fixed. That’s what you get for being so dang ambiguous about your identity online! ;P

    Bloke - I’m not sure you read this article correctly, because it wasn’t meant as a complaint or a rant at all.

    12.
    On September 19th, 2007 at 9:51 am, Aruni said:

    Great post! I Dugg it! I also left a comment on Pearl’s blog. I’m wondering if it has to do with the reasons women blog. I find that I’m drawn more to blogs written by women on business topics.

    I have a hard time keeping up with my own daily life, let alone the lives of other great women. :-)

    I started blogging for business and have evolved my blog to include my experiences with being a high-tech female entrepreneur: http://www.entrepremusings.com. I’m one of the few founding CEO women who raised multi-million VC bucks back in the day.

    My goal with entrepreMusings is not to be in the top 100 because I know that will take more time than I have… because I also have to get a company (Babble Soft) off the ground!

    However, I would LOVE to help you, Pearl, and others who do want to get there! How can I help you get there? I’ve linked to your site and dropped links to your site around…but let me know how and I’ll do my best to help out.

    As in team sports, there is usually team leader and the rest of the team helps support them…makes them look even better. Lance Armstrong is not the only biker on his team. Michael Jordan, Mia Hamm, etc., etc.

    I’m serious, how can I (we) help you and other women bloggers reach this goal?

    13.
    On September 19th, 2007 at 10:48 am, Maura said:

    I’m a mom with a high-tech career (network engineer) and I’ve noticed the female to male ratio more like 1 in 6.

    I also have a hard time keeping up with my own daily life, but love blogging and gleaning wisdom from other great women!

    14.
    On September 19th, 2007 at 3:23 pm, Blog Bloke said:

    My point is it’s tough for everyone male or female, including long-time bloggers such as myself. My advice is to enjoy your blog and not be fixated on the top 100 lists.

    Cheers Wendy!

    …BB

    15.
    On September 19th, 2007 at 5:41 pm, Holli Jo said:

    Aruni - I’m with you! We really should help promote the blogs of other women. If you think of some ways to do it, I’m in.

    There are just so many great blogs by women that are underexposed in my opinion. Let’s help each other out.

    16.
    On September 19th, 2007 at 10:09 pm, Wendy Piersall said:

    Bloke - we can agree on that one - I even said something to that effect in the article, “Getting onto the Technorati Top 100 list is hard for anyone. And the path that Michael Arrington took to get there is far different than the one that Heather Armstrong took to get there - but they both got there.”

    Again, this post is not a complaint about anything - and your blogging rules are definitely different than mine. Since this topic, though controversial, is one that is repeatedly asked of me by my readers, I felt they deserved a thoughtful response.

    I’m still having a hard time figuring out why you think this is a confrontational post. It doesn’t seem like any of my other readers took it that way -

    But I certainly invite others to disagree with me on that one if they feel differently. :)

    17.
    On September 19th, 2007 at 10:11 pm, Wendy Piersall said:

    PS Bloke, I had to fish both of your comments out of Akismet. I didn’t even know to look for them had you not mentioned them on your blog.

    18.
    On September 20th, 2007 at 12:28 am, Blog Bloke said:

    I believe I made my point very clearly Wendy.

    My so-called “blogging rules” are not my own and are based on years of blogging experience. Most any experienced blogger will tell you the same thing.

    Google itself recently took a lot of flak for personal views by one of its bloggers on a topic that wasn’t nearly so controversial.

    But if you feel you are immune from such things then by all means blow me off, but you do so at your own risk.

    Cheers! It’s been a pleasure :)

    …BB

    19.
    On September 22nd, 2007 at 10:49 am, Patricia Martin said:

    Stunning post on women bloggers and their rankings in the blogosphere. I had to set it aside until today. As a boomer who marched in the streets for women’s rights, I am disheartened by our lack of deeper reforms. In fact, it makes me wonder if true parity in wages and power will be achieved in my lifetime. The young feminist Gwynn Cassidy, who used to work at iVillage and leads the Real Hot 100, muses that there is no Second Wave in feminism.
    Your post led me wonder–do women really matter? Or have we lulled ourselves into believing we do? Do we skirt the need for prestige and recognition that will earn us fair consideration by saying we don’t need those rewards? Perhaps we backseat ourselves and then wonder why we make less money and have less power. So, will women rule in the RenGen (renaissance generation) or just settle and keep moving? Patricia Martin

    Mentions on other sites...

    1. Technorati is Irrelevant and Useless for Most Bloggers on September 18th, 2007 at 7:36 pm
    2. entrepreMusings » Blog Archive » Who is on the Technorati A-List on September 19th, 2007 at 3:41 pm

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