Live from BlogHer: The State of the Momosphere

Blogging live in the sometimes controversial session about mommybloggers.  The first year, there was a debate about whether or not we existed.  Last year, there was a debate as to why we were getting so much attention.  This year, well... I'm writing about the ups and downs of this session.

First off, Kristen from Motherhood Uncensored has an adorable baby boy.  Big, yes.  But a cutie patootie all the way.  Okay, I promise to stay focused.

My *terrible* notes from the discussion:

• There is a high-school perception and/or feeling like there is a popularity contest with comments, readership, traffic, who's been blogging longer, etc. Not being linked on a blogroll feels like an active inclusion or removing the blogroll entirely to not hurt other feelings. 
• The politics of comments.  Or blogging strategically.   Has the momosphere become meaner?  Or it is just more complicated?  Are these issues just to the mommybloggers or it is endemic to the blogosphere?
• The panelists (and I rather disagree) that the momosphere can be much more loaded. We often write about our most serious challenges as mothers including our failure, depression, etc that make it more personal.  I think that any bloggers who write personally (regardless of mommy status) probably feel exactly the same way.
• Where are the mom's with older kids?  Is the mommy-blogger identity based on mother young children?
• There was a civil discussion about the commercialization of the momosphere.  Women that spoke about not allowing for a monetization of blogging.  Reasons varied from protecting children to it as hobby to trying ads and then removing them later.  Opposing agurments were that monetization that it brought validity to her blog. Another stated that she shouldn't be ashamed to receive money from her blog just because she writes about motherhood.  The feminist in me totally agrees.  We shouldn't be shamed into accepting ads and we shouldn't be shamed from choosing to not have them.  Just as our content is personal, this is a personal choice too.
• How can corporate marketers do a better job in marketing to the momosphere?  Why are they eliminating moms of color?  Where is the diversity?
• Issues of privacy.  Does it affect your relationships?  It may be your private life but it is also the private lives of the people you write about.   

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**In my defense, I was fired as an administrative assistant because I sucked at meeting minutes.  I already know I'm terrible at this, no need to comment about my bad minute-taking.

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Check out more live blogging from BlogHer07 at my personal blog Who's the Boss??