Yesterday Holly sent me over a NY Times article (a term used loosely as it was more of a ‘commentary’ than article..article would imply research) since it mentioned me, written primarily about Bloggy Bootcamp, the whole mini conference deal that SITS is doing. You know..another conference I’m not a speaker on?
Cause I know nothing about making money online, building communities, or otherwise branding .
*cough*
Am I digressing?
I get why mom bloggers are mad. The title alone was meant as nothing more than link bait to force the hands of bloggers to get riled up, link back, and freak out on them, thereby assisting them in traffic and comments.
Don’t believe me?
The only reason these online newspapers still continue to write about mom bloggers is because we are the long tail of advertising and have an immediate foot hold and personal audience that cares. They fire us up, 500 people respond with content articles, drive up links, facebook pages, thousands of tweets and Ta Da…NY Times in the limelight.
Its so obvious its reeking of unoriginality.
Easy as pie.
Or baby food.
Except the sad part was that the article was the poorest representation of what a journalistic attitude or NY Times article should be. I mean, don’t we all think about the NY Times, The Washington Post, and The Wallstreet Journal as the be-all, end-all? It’s sad, but newspapers just don’t hold the same value as they used to. Contrary to popular belief, I’m not even sure its the Internet putting them out of business. Its clearly due to poorly written posts that are meant to antagonize but fall short of even making a real point that keeps its audience engaged.
Other then the title I never actually got the gist of what the article was implying. That moms meeting in groups to discuss and grow in their industry is a bad thing? Was that the dig? The big insult? What part was the bad part?
The meeting…or the moms?
Ooh. Scandal.
In fact there just may be kids loose all over America at this very moment with crap in their diapers and chocolate on their face with all this parenting gone awry.
I am so absolutely befuzzled that in 2010 other women find ways to suppress other women. Cause wasn’t that what the title implied? That women should be raising kids and not raising a career?
That we ignore our kids to twitter, blog, and connect?
Maybe moms, like this Atlanta Mom Blogger, just figured it out and everyone else that has to work a 9-5 is jealous. We have figured out how to work from home, how to raise money, how to interact with corporate America, how to take our degrees and apply them, how to host communities even if we cant leave our house, and we STILL raise our families.
Yes, my daughter sees me work. Let me say it again. W-O-R-K. This is a job. While I love it and its a passion, its also my job. She understands my work hours, she gets that mom earns money, that mom has an office, that mom cant be there 24/7 for every single whim.
But I am there for the needs and most of the wants. I am there to tie her shoes in the morning, brush her hair in the afternoon, tuck her into naps, kiss her boo-boos, and go on walks in the afternoon.
I am a good example.
An example of entrepreneurship, of invention, of hard work, and of perseverance. I can promise you that my laundry is done, even if not folded daily, everyone is fed, even if sometimes we go out to eat, and that my daughter is happy, healthy, and adjusting just fine to a mom that brands.
Its called balance.
It’s not one or the other.
I can never remember a time that someone told my dh he was a crappy dad cause he went to work today.
It’s terribly primordial.
You. Mom. Stay. Home. Cook. Clean. Shut. Up. Barefoot. Pregnant.
You. Dad. Spread. Seed. Go. Work. Bread. Butter. Paycheck. Have. Beer.
But that’s the point.
This article is a clear indication that regardless of organized meetups, corporate sponsorships, or self regulated industry standards, that the second we pop a baby out of our vaginas we become second class citizens that might as well drop her opinions, careers, and brains at the door.
The irony is that even with all the negative mainstream media attention and incessant drama filled hate that plagues the blogosphere on its own, we still dominate with an industry that is largely listened to by consumers, citizens, and online readers.
Geniuses. We are frickin geniuses.
Man, that really has got to piss off newspapers. No overhead and an audience? Did I mention the genius part? And now we are monetizing?
BWAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
For the record, this “one blogger” would have linked the article in reference, but they sorta left mine out on their own with their poorly researched material..maybe Miss Mendelsohn was popping back a few of those mimosas in sippy cups herself.
~Trisha
Stay-at-home-mom is supposed to = baby slave, I guess. We’re not supposed to want to do or be anything outside of a housekeeping, cookie baking, laundry folding, butt wiping, organic baby food making, sock darning (and the list goes on) mom.
How dare we identify ourselves by our gifts/talents/passions over our mommy titles? “Hi, I’m Alex’s Mom” (gag)
RAR!
Thanks for your post and for not linking to their article. I agree with you. Don’t give them traffic. Morons.
yeah. Get to work you housewife!
I would have liked a link, too. Being called out the way I was and all. Sigh.
i thought total shit jill and i bet your quote was nice and cut off…
I don’t know. I kind of wonder what a couple days of great traffic is supposed to do for the Times. It’s not like we’re all running over to subscribe.
That said I agree it’s poorly written. I wrote my post and then re read the article 10 more times trying to take myself OUT of the mommy circle that was AT boot camp and see it objectively. Was I adding snide tone where there wasn’t meant to be one? I don’t really know and I did email the journalist about it (waiting).
The bottom line is the title alone is enough to be annoyed with. The title alone suggests we’re ignoring our kids to blog and plays on mommy’s guilt. You can’t insult a demographic with a title and then expect them to read the article with an open mind.
You’ll excuse me while I go drill my 2 year old on state capitols again.
I believe it just SEO’s them in the search engines..its not about the traffic itself, its about the linkage they receive on top of the chatter and discussion online. I bet anything they know exactly what they are doing.
Hit the nail on the head.
Wonder what they would say about a mom who works outside the home…and blogs. Gasp!
Oh no, that’s me! Since I refuse to even go over and read the article, can you let me know if ‘they’ start gunning for me.
Didn’t you know? Women aren’t supposed to have original thoughts once they’re married and/or have kids. How dare we educate ourselves and seek a life outside of poopy diapers, Nick Jr., playdoh, and the sandbox. The audacity. The funniest part of this article to me was that the person who wrote it said they have a blog. Where were their kids while they typed that piss poor excuse of an article? Oh, maybe that’s why you didn’t get a link and were just “some blogger” who staged the PR Blackout last August. Maybe she had a kid get lost while she was writing that poor excuse for journalism.
Can I just say that I love you Trisha (lol). Seriously though this is a good article that we can all relate too.
Wow. The article didn’t even match the title and after I was done reading it, I was even more confused. Yep, I think poor journalism is the point here. How exactly to writers like that get jobs with the NY Times?
I totally agree when you said it’s called balance. Oh, and until you walk a mile in my shoes, don’t judge. Tired of being stereotyped. Nicely written Trisha.
I read commentary about this ad nauseum today and my thoughts were yours… bait to get traffic. I’m guessing her personal blog has seen a giant bump in traffic as well. We all have days that we should be better parents whether we blog, stay home, work out of the home, have a penis, or not. What an easy way to go after someone, get a response… attack their parenting.
My opinion? The NYT aren’t the first, they certainly won’t be the last, so why waste any time or energy or links on ‘defending’ or getting all riled up about it? Ladies, fuck em if they don’t get it & get back to doing what you do best, raising your children and reaching your readers.
“I am so absolutely befuzzled that in 2010 other women find ways to suppress other women.”
REALLY? It’s because we’re bitches! LOL!!
and whores!
I stand corrected – wrong VP wife – it was Marilyn Quayle
That article was written for two purpose only links and traffic. Just imagine how many blogs wrote about that article and linked to it, and how much traffic was sent their way. Because to be honest who reads them?! They have to attack mom bloggers to get some attention! So sad!
Exactly Trisha. I couldn’t tell what the hell the author was trying to say. It almost seemed like the title didn’t match the content and it was all over the place. I take issue that poor writing like this can make the NY TIMES. So sad.
As to what the article was suggesting (or not I can’t really tell) I find frustrating as well. WAHMs don’t get this kind of crap and yet bloggers do. Aren’t bloggers really WAHMs? If they monetize they certainly are. Why have bloggers gotten such a bad rap? And why do these outside “journalists” (if you can even call this particular author a journalist) find it so necessary to hate us? How is it different than any other small business/freelance work? I don’t see anyone going after the local Tupperware dealer, asking why they are gone at night doing a home party instead of at home tucking their children in.
Why all the guilt for doing part time work blogging? I’m sick of the assumption that to be a blogger you have to completely ignore your children. Shut up already and stop assuming.
Great post trisha! LOVE that you didn’t link to them! LOL
ps For the record, i have always thought the NY Times was a horrible bias newspaper and they just continue to prove me right day after day
i think they are ALL biased, you know?
Oh Trisha, this post makes me happy.
I got the impression that the NYT’s logic behind the article is we women should all go back to the days and be like Tipper Gore when she baked cookies all day long.
As a Baby Boomer, I take issue with that line of thought.
its a terrible chain of thought, but i Believe you may be so right.
You’re. So. Smart.
You’re cute as heck, too, so you don’t hear that smart word enough.
Smart, smart, smart, smart, smart.
spank you…spank you berry much.
What was that Trisha? I’m so busy opening all my free stuff I got distracted. And where is Spencer, crap…I hope he didn’t wander out the front door again. Doesn’t he realize mommy is busy writing an article about bathing suit shopping? Gawd.
Lee
You crack me up!
ROFLMAO!!!! Totally! My kids totally get lost in the swag shuffle… Way to go Trisha, another great post that says it how it is! Pisses me off how Mom’s are just suppose to suck it up, not have a job, or God forbid friends or a life! Good Heavens! Shame on them…
Wow, very interesting! My husband and I cancelled our newspaper subscription over a year ago and while we miss it at times, for the most part, we don’t. We cancelled it to save money since my husband was out of work at the time. Since then, he’s returned to work and we’ve gotten used to just surfing the internet for our news. Who needs a newspaper when you can read it all on CNN.com or on some niche blog.
The author of that NY Times article obviously hasn’t read the book “Why She Buys: The New Strategy for Reaching the World’s Most Powerful Consumers”. Not only do we hold the POWER for consumer buying, we also hold the power for attracting like-minds with our blogs.
I say, up yours NY Times and all the other newspapers. You can’t stop us.
Remember – If you build it, they will come!
Thanks Trisha. Another great post!
The only reason I miss my newspaper is for the “lining the animals cages” factor!!
HAHAHAHAHA!!! Have you ever heard the phrase “fish wrap”? It’s in regards to newspapers that are only good for wrapping fish. Same thing with catch animal feces. TOO FUNNY!!!
I actually read this article today and I thought the person linking to it was a worse than the article so I was already pissed off lol
“Want to find a corporate sponsor for your child’s next birthday party? Start a mommy blog and just watch the swag roll in!”
And linked to that NY article. Yuck
You hit the nail on the head with this one Trisha.