Saturday, October 4, 2008

Anita Borg Social Impact Award Winner

Elisa Camahort Page from BlogHer.com (winner of the Anita Borg Social Impact Award Winner) spoke about how women are using technology to change their lives.

She told that 53% of the U.S. online women are reading and contributing to blogs. Blogging is addictive and people are doing that on daily basis. Regardless of age, once engaged, blogging is a daily part of life. 20% of the people are spending more time on blogging and moving away from television. People trust blogs and rely on them for advice or recommendation. They get help about making purchase decisions.

She also told about what women are getting from blogosphere. They are experiencing unique transformational power. For example, women undergoing postpartum depression or diabetes are raising awareness, generating support and bringing about change through blogging. Blogs are helping people to share grief- loss of a child or loss of a husband. People find support groups online and find it easy to share their feelings online. Women are getting book deals and offers for writing for magazines. It’s also changing how we age. A woman in her 80’s is engaging herself in blogging to keep her brain active, to stay engaged and to avoid isolation.

Elisa added that blogging is a cultural record about our day to day lives and is a gift for the future generations. There are businesses starting out of blogs, people are getting jobs and companies are looking into blogging capabilities of the people.

Some success stories:
1) Elise Bauer was very stressed out when she quit her job and went to stay with her parents. She started learning to cook from her parents and then posted those recipes online with pictures. She now makes a lot of money out of it.

2) Corvida from Atlanta is a 23 years old just out of college and “SheGeeks”. Now she is a highly ranked techblogger. She has created a career for herself out of blogging.

Elisa told that having a focused topic for the blog and having a clear voice is very important. You have to be a great story teller. That’s how you get audience. Blogging is a way we participate in just everything and take actions. Blogging is become popular amongst politicians and people who want to raise support. For example, blogs to raise support for Katrina relief involved a lot of people and attracted donors from far and wide.

Blogging raises awareness and helps in getting the mass action going. The customers are getting empowered by the power to be heard, the power to build your own playing field, the power to participate, the power to change the world through blogging. In the world where we don’t trust media, government, big businesses, the health care industry, we do trust each other!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Good post. It's interesting that you mention the impostor syndrome.

Over 20-years ago, I saw Paul Newman in an interview say that he always had the feeling that someone was going to come through the crowd, take him by the arm and say, "It's over Newman. It's all been a mistake. You're coming back to paint houses."

When he said that, I immediately understood the feeling. Later I learned that he was describing the impostor syndrome. The Impostor Syndrome is the feeling that you are not as smart, talented, or skilled as people think you are. It's the feeling that you are a fake and have been getting away with something and are about to be found out. It affects 70% of adults and is especially prevalent in high achieving women.

I've spent the past two decades living with and learning about this common condition.

The Impostor Syndrome is a fascinating topic and the subject of my new book, "The Impostor Syndrome: How to Replace Self-Doubt with Self-Confidence and Train Your Brain for Success."

You can download Chapter One, "Paul Newman and I" at www.JohnGraden.com