The content is sometimes written by folks with only a high school education. Heck, some of'em are in high school! Or, it's content written by women at home, connecting to a wide network all over the world. Content written by men who are working alongside their wives (or significant others) to build a home-based business of one sort or another, in an attempt to create a strong family - one where the parents are involved, daily, hourly, minute by minute, in their children's lives.

The content in blogs, even the business blogs - management writing on how to manage better; sales professionals writing on the best way to meet sales objectives; CEOs writing on the struggle to be a strong leader yet not lose their warmth and friendliness...all provide value to their readers. Else... they wouldn't have readers!

Social networking, social computing, blog platforms, whatever you care to call it - in the end it comes down to this: people like to connect and talk. To each other. To other people who share the same beliefs or experiences. And, we like to butt heads with people who don't share our beliefs or experiences - it's human nature. Within that, women are the prime communicators. Women drive the connections offline - and now, via blogs, we are driving the connections online.

Women - in the pursuit of a new recipe, or a better knitting needle, or an answer to a business, family, political, or social question, are communicating via the Internet and blogs. And, as we do so well offline, we're associating with others just like us - who, in turn, introduce us to new friends. The connections grow like fireflies on a humid July evening in the NorthEast. Our firefly talk flutters around hubs, but it doesn't stop there. Like true gadabouts, we flit and fly from here to there and back again, and learn new things - and experience the excitement of meeting new people.

Today, I met some women who aren't blogging. I mentioned blogging to them. They seemed interested. BUT...they're still sunk in the world of mainstream media, where the likes of Herschell Gordon Lewis, and others like him, are passing around misconceptions and mistruths about the nature of blogging. These women were agast at the concept of leaving comments OPEN...without moderation! They took deep breaths and glared at me with fright in their eyes when I suggested allowing members free reign to write in the organization's blog. They wondered, out loud, "What if...someone writes something 'bad'? Or, worse, illegal!"

<sigh>

What if someone does? Who determines the 'badness'?

What illegal things are they afraid people will write? I just don't know.

I only know that millions, yes, millions of women blog. They do it because it's fun. It's another form of togetherness. And, it makes them happy. They do it because they have something to share. Sometimes it's personal, many times it isn't. You don't have to read their blogs if you don't want to.

But, you have to accept that they're out there. And, that...they're probably clients or customers of yours. Are you willing to ignore this channel of marketing? Shouldn't you be advertising on their blogs - turning them into customer evangelists? Shouldn't you be reading their blogs - to learn more about them? Shouldn't you be engaging them in conversation, on YOUR blog? The better to SERVE them??? Here's someone who knows how to court women...via the blogosphere. Gil the Jenius actively seeks input from women - because he recognizes power when he sees it.

If you get it, as well as Gil does, contact me. We should talk.

If you don't ...well, next time I see you standing on the corner with your hat in your hand, I'll throw in a few pennies.