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Women dominate men in the social media world.

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Did you know that women, in all age categories, outnumber men as far as the driving force of social media?

So what? you may say.

According to Johanna Blakely, Deputy Director of the Norman Lear Center (a media-focused think tank at the University of Southern California) this is changing the future of entertainment media. Blakely asks, “If social media is dominating old media, and women are dominating social media, does this mean that women are going to take over global media?”

In traditional media everyone is lumped according to demographics, and viewers over 54 don’t exist. Now with on-line media, people can escape their age, ethnic background and gender, as they aggregate around their shared interests, So it’s no longer age, gender and skin color that matters.

“Shared interests and values are far more powerful aggregators of human beings than demographics,” Blakely says. “Does this mean media companies are going to hire more women and we shall see more female characters in video games, TV, even chick flicks?” she asks.

I’m selfish, and yes, I hope that the entertainment industry realizes that they have a huge audience of females 40+  who are waiting to see movies they can relate to, women on TV they can relate to, marriages they can relate to, and of course family stories they can relate to.

I think connecting, sharing and especially “talking” to others is a female trait, so why am I not surprised to hear that women outnumber men in social networking? Do you realize the potential of social networking? Please share Johanna Blakely’s research with your friends. Lets get moving. This is HUGE!

I’m curious to hear your thoughts, whether male or female?

Has blogging improved your writing?

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Belize: A place that inspires me to write.

Sandra Lee from Always Well Within, wrote a post “Has Blogging Murdered Eloquence and Elegance?” that inspired my article today. I wanted to write about something that’s been bothering me but didn’t have enough to add, until I found Sandra’s article.

Sandra asked her readers some interesting questions regarding their writing styles. I have listed them below, but would urge you to read her detailed post.

1). Have you altered you writing style as a blogger?  Where do you draw the line?
Have you simplified your writing style?

2). Do you use formulaic headlines?  If not, how do you write effective headlines?
For example: 10 easy ways to get organized today.

3). Which words turn you in the opposite direction?
Sandra mentions words such as awesome, killer, kick-ass, dude.

4). What do you think about the use of swear words and vulgarity in blog posts?

My response to several of her excellent questions and points is: Who is your audience?
If you’re appealing to a young crowd of 20-30, your writing needs to relate to them. Since I cannot write like twenty-somethings speak, (half the time I don’t understand my own sons,) they are probably not my audience.

I added two of my own questions below.

5). Has blogging improved your writing skills? We all put more time and effort into writing and editing our blog posts than we would in an e-mail to a friend. My problem is I speak French and Danish, and notice after I’ve read or spoken French, my sentence structure is incorrect in English. (How do you like my excuse?)

6). Have you ever left a comment on someone’s blog you regretted after you clicked submit?
When I’m in a hurry or over-tired, I have commented without thinking before I hit submit.

This happened to me the other day on another excellent guest post, “5 Steps to Captivating Readers With Your Secret Message,” by Carol Tice on Copyblogger. Copyblogger is huge, the Guardian named it one of the world’s 50 most powerful blogs.) And this is what I wrote:

“I don’t have a secret message. I want my readers to share their opinions and encourage them to be open. I love cross-cultural comparisons from around the world regarding topics that we can all relate to in one way or another. Thanks for asking.”

After you read “5 Steps to Captivating Readers With Your Secret Message” you realize I did not pay attention to the article’s main focus. It was about how our writing is an opportunity to tell readers what we’re about; to convey our personality, passions, expertise, and attitude.

I realized my stupidity, or shall we say, “misinterpretation” and tried to redeem myself by writing a second comment in the Reply section, to myself (like the world cares!)

“I hope to be authentic in a Gutsy way, that inspires viewers to think about everyday issues in unusual ways.”

Please hop over to Sandra Lee’s “Has Blogging Murdered Eloquence and Elegance?” and Carol Tice’s article on Copyblogger’s  “5 Steps to Captivating Readers With Your Secret Message” to help with your writing and content.

Please share anything you care to about your writing and commenting experiences.

What is Panic-itis? I’m letting you in on my secret

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 Woman's Thoughts Pictures, Images and Photos

Lately, I’ve been suffering from a case of panic-itis. Now there are two ways I can handle this topic: 

  1. The Professional Way, “Five Simple Ways to Fight off Panic-itis,” or
  2. The Gutsy Way, “Say it like it is.”

Which one would you like to hear? Well, tough! Today you won’t get the professional way. My head feels like taking the easy route. 

So what’s going on? What are the symptoms of panic-itis?

  • A night with blog topics floating around my mind. Which one to pick? Thankfully one popped out.
  • 684 e-mails in my inbox. (Oops. I should perhaps not have revealed this, but don’t worry, I’ve taken care of all of them.)
  • Researching improvements I would like to make with my blog in the future.
  • Panic-itis over perfecting my final query letter to submit to agents. It has to be ready before my kids come home in two weeks.
  • A book proposal? How about a business and marketing plan? That’s easier for me to write.
  • Wondering how I can get 2,000 subscribers so I can impress a future agent and publisher. Now wouldn’t that be super. I’d be grateful if you would like to subscribe thus helping me promote GutsyWriter.
  • Panic-itis on how to use Twitter effectively. Great advice from GetintheHotSpot.

Now it’s time for the sun to come out and shine on Miss Footloose for being the featured success story on the Expat blogger website. Many of my blogger friends know her blog: Life in the Expat Lane. She is a brilliant writer and her stories always make me laugh.This is where I go when I want to get rid of my panic-itis.


What about you? Are you suffering from panic-itis?

I’m in love with Annabel Candy and Chris Guillebeau

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I cannot hide my feelings any longer; I’m in love with two bloggers, one male and one female. Okay, so perhaps “in love” is a little too strong, but I feel connected, to these two people because of their passion for what they do, their authenticity, and the fact that I get goosebumps when I read their posts, and listen to their words on various podcasts.

So who are these two bloggers:

  1. Chris Guillebeau: The Art on Non-Conformity
  2. Annabel Candy: GetintheHotSpot

First of all, he’s real, he’s humble, he connects with people old and young, he’s open-minded, his motto: “live your life the way you want and help other people at the same time,” resonates with me. He’s a world traveler, he’s lived four years in Africa helping people, he’s young and energetic, and he asks the questions all of us are interested in, but rarely take the time to answer:


1) What do you really want to get out of Life?
2). What can you offer the world that no one else can?

As Chris says, “These questions are deceptively simple. It takes some people 10 minutes to get their own answers, and other people take years to figure out.”

In his book, The Art of Non-Conformity, Chris offers a ton of fascinating, yet simple ways of thinking about motivation and your life. One is his radical goal-setting, (pages 32-35,) where he gives help on setting One-Year, Five-Year, and Lifetime goals. For those of you who may be asking, “”Who am I to Tell You All This?” Chris says, “Let’s be clear about something: I adhere to a guru-free philosophy, and I don’t claim to have all the answers.”  

I can relate to Annabel as a woman who has lived in Africa, the UK, Costa Rica for Annabel, Belize for me, and has three children. Despite similarities in travel, Annabel is also authentic and has a strong desire to help people live their dreams. She writes about empowerment, blogging, Internet marketing, and entrepreneurship.
I recommend Annabel’s podcast where she talks about helping bloggers, especially small business owners, and writers, photographers and musicians who wish to improve their blogs. A few helpful tips she offers are:

  • Each line should have 80 characters or less, or it’s too difficult to read.
  • Stick with blogging for at least a year. You will start seeing the benefits.

Annabel always offers great content on her posts, and has a new e-book on Successful Blogging in 12 simple steps to help you become a successful blogger.

I am volunteering at Chris Guillebeau’s book tour on December 10th in Los Angeles. Can’t wait to meet him and everyone else attending. Hope to see you there.

 

Here is your chance to share the names and links of up to two bloggers who inspire you, make you feel connected, or simply entertain you and you cannot wait for their next post.

Blogging with Integrity

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BlogWithIntegrity.com

I’ve been running into a few articles lately, discussing the behavior of some bloggers. Apparently, there are some bloggers who like to wage war with the blog author. There are others who only care about making money and accepting freebies, (not quite sure what that’s all about, as I don’t read those blogs.) Finally we have the civilized crowd, like my followers, who blog with integrity.

Yesterday, I stumbled upon an interesting website: BLOG WITH INTEGRITY, and after reading the pledge and viewing the msnbc interview, decided to sign it and display the badge on my blog. The April 9th interview entitled, “Mommy meanest? The dark side of mom bloggers,” is quite interesting and offers useful tips to all who blog; not just mom bloggers.

What caught my eye in the pledge was the following statement:
“I treat others respectfully, attacking ideas and not people. I also welcome respectful disagreement with my own ideas.”

Furthermore, they acknowledge we all make mistakes, but as long as we take responsibility for our own words and apologize for our mistakes, then we are blogging with integrity.

I found it interesting that we need to remind people to “remember that you can attack an idea, but not the person.” You see, when I’m visiting family in Paris, watching French TV and having meals with French friends, the French openly argue politics, social issues and religion, and remain friends afterwards. They are in fact disagreeing with others’ opinions, but not attacking the person. Here in the U.S., people stay away from discussing these issues as disagreeing with others, often turns into a personal attack. I’ve often wondered why it has to be that way, and why the difference between the European way of discussing and the American way of (avoiding discussing?)

A NOTE FOR WRITERS AND WANNABE AUTHORS BELOW

Editor Lynn Price from Behler Publications wrote a very interesting article called, “Footprints in the sand-Online Presence,” about this. Please read here.

She states:

“I google potential authors because I want to know who I’m dealing with in order to avoid potential trouble downstream. Maybe a manuscript looks really great and the author’s platform is fabo. But if I see where the author yelled at an interviewer [happened, pinky swear], or behaved horribly in some other public forum, then I’m going to run in the opposite direction because if they’ve done it once or thrice, chances are they’ll do it again. On my dime. Who needs the aggravation? I’m in this game to sell books, not play referee.”

Thank you Lynn for this helpful article.

Thank you Rayna, for handing me the “Sunshine Award.” Please visit Rayna’s blog from India where she lives. She definitely blogs with Integrity.

I leave for London and Paris on May 9th until May 24th. I shall celebrate my Father’s 85th birthday in Cahors, the south of France. Might blog if I can, if not lots of photos and stories when I get back.Take care and 
Happy Mother’s Day.


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