Do BC Bloggers Matter?

Pamela Chan, BCFamily.ca

Imagine you are me.  You’re looking for postings online about the mom blogger meetings that have taken place at Premier Clark’s office because you want to write your own piece.  (See: Don’t Talk to Christy Clark) Along the way you come across the following quotes.

(Have a read and I’ll join you at the other end.)

“The people I have met through blogging have helped me create new ways to form my own business that works around my family. Many other women have gone much further than I and are in the middle of amazing digital media empires and or fantastic writing careers.” Excerpt from Mommy Bloggers Are Working Women Too

What we had at that table represented the variety of women who happen to be mom’s who happen to love the internet in all their glorious diversity.” Excerpt from Speaking Our Minds

“Clicking through the site is even more revealing… the Blogroll is a collection of banana bread, granola friendly fashionable motherhood sites to foodie hangouts, to arts and crafts and more…. […]  I happen to be a mother, and in no way am I attempting to disparage any of the mommy sites* ( or others) that the government site links to.   They aren’t my ‘thing’ but I do recognize many mothers, particularly new moms, gravitate towards these sites  to connect with other moms, find tips, recipes, etc… ” Excerpt from  Clark tries new tactic to woo women back into the fold with Über-mommy friendly website – paid for with your tax dollars. *

“So, are mom bloggers exercising political power? As it turns out, they don’t blog about much that you’d call political.* They’re generally not endorsing candidates or advocating for legislation. Instead, their topics are often mundane — recipes, shopping, cute things the kids did, pets, frustrations — and also personal: depression, sex, drinking, rage, boredom, self-doubt.” Excerpt from  Michaud: Can Mommy bloggers harness their political power? *See example from BCFamily.ca – a typical site geared towards family-focussed individuals.

How are you feeling now?  If you’re a blogger (or have a Tumblr account), did some of those thoughts leave you feeling encouraged? If you’re not a blogger, you read blogs and have friends who write them, so you can empathize. Did other comments leave you feeling irked?  Do mom bloggers write about mundane topics online?  Are women exercising their political power through their writing? (Quick answer – yes.) Are blogs about motherhood and families “a collection of banana bread, granola friendly fashionable motherhood sites to foodie hangouts, to arts and crafts and more”?  Do mom bloggers even know how to write?

Top BC Bloggers 2012 as voted on VancouverMom.ca

Since I started writing online 9 years ago, I’ve met interesting women and men who are sharing fabulous content online.  When I’m cooking you can be certain that I’ll end up on those not so mundane cooking posts.  I also read all kinds of insightful pieces in the blogsophere on a broad range of topics.  I hear about the work of bloggers when I attend events held around town. Here in British Columbia we have a growing number of women and men who are sharing content that is relevant to families – parents, children and extended family members.   Every week a new blogger links up to my pages on Twitter (here and here).  I continue to fall behind in my goal to add all of them to lists on Twitter.

I mentioned to one of the authors quoted above that I was going to do something to help promote the work that bloggers are doing in this province.

SUPPORT BC BLOGGERS

BC Bloggers List

I have set up a Blog Roll list for BC Bloggers who write content geared towards families.   I’ve placed it as a tab at the top of BCFamily.ca.  It’s a priority pit-stop for first-time and repeat visitors.  This page relies on individual bloggers submitting their links.  The message readers receive when they see each thumbnail is “here I am!”.

If you are blogger who writes content for families, head over to the Blog list and add your URL.  Let your fellow bloggers know about this page as well.  As people search for sites focussed on BC families, BC parents, parenting blogs, mommy blogs, and daddy blogs, for example, they will land on this page.

Sharing BC Blogger Posts

If you’re a blogger, every week (or month depending on your editorial schedule), you share content on your site.  When people visit your site they can also move on to your other locations on social media. You put a lot of work into writing and sharing this information. Here’s one more place where you can get the word out.  Every Sunday, after 6 PM, check out the BC Writes Home Page and click on the most recent posting where you can share your blog posts.  (If you haven’t written on your blog for awhile, do consider sharing your last few posts.)

Let your fellow bloggers know about this page as well so that they can increase their exposure.

The next time someone wants to write about what type of content British Columbians are sharing online, I hope they too will land on the BC Writes Homepage.  British Columbians are sharing some wicked recipes onlineand a whole lot more!

You can comment about this posting using the comment function below or by visiting the BC Family Facebook page. Your opinion matters so don’t be shy!

Daily Dish Archives: Pamela Chan, BCfamily.ca

Related

List of BC Bloggers – add your URL here.

BC Writes Homepage – where you can share and find recent blog postings from BC Bloggers.

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