According to social media intelligence firm NM Incite (a Nielsen/McKinsey company), the majority of bloggers are women. These women are also:
- Mothers (1 in 3 have children);
- Well-educated (7 in 10 have attended college); and
- Social media savvy (active across multiple social media platforms.
Surprisingly, the comments were insightful and well-rounded, highlighting many answers to these interesting questions. Some thought that women's predominance in the blogosphere was directly related to the discouraging lack of female writers in mainstream media, including print, television, and internet. Another thought that it aligned with traditional media having a designated "women's space," such as ForbesWoman or the HuffPost Women section.
Yet, others had a different take: blogs are outlets for women to voice their opinions and viewpoints that may be different from what mainstream media portrays. Compared to male-dominated and often male-centric media outlets, women's blogs and social networks paint different pictures of what life looks like. However, in no way do these blogs get the same coverage or readership as CNN, Fox, or even local newspapers.
And lastly, some argued that if a woman can make a living off blogging, then that's all that matters. If a woman is able to make blogging a career, then so be it; she should be empowered and valued for this work. While some women can blog to support their families (see Dooce), the vast majority of women bloggers are unable to quit their day jobs to blog full-time. Rather, many women bloggers may also freelance, or work full-time, or work from home. And I'm not sure many would have it any other way.
Some questions for you:
- What is your take on the reasons above?
- Why do you blog?
- If you could financially, would you blog as a full-time job?
