Not Just A Mom

It always seems around this time of the year, that I ponder the whole motherhood thing. I go back and forth between feeling powerful in the role of being a mother and powerless at how moms are perceived...But this year has been different on many levels..

Yesterday as I was talking with a group of people at a family running event, one of the dads mentioned his wife to me and said something to the effect of "Just a mom". He was actually complementing how amazing his wife was to give up a career to be a mom, but it hit a nerve with me. Feeling the power of my parent blogger network and specifically one of the pledges in the back of Maria Shriver's book "Just Who You Will Be?', I said in a clear and steady voice "Never say Just". To confirm another reason why this year is different, a fellow mom friend of mine standing in the group said "Yeah, you are talking to a mom who blogs and was just interviewed on Forbes.com".

heh.....

I wondered why it took being a gadget obsessed mom interviewed by mainstream media about being a gadget obsessed mom to feel validated on a new level. But the secret to my sense of power is not only in the interview, it is in the "Groundswell". Charlene Li a fellow Silicon Valley Moms Blogger and co-author of the book defined Groundswell as the "social trend where people use technologies to get things they need from each other, rather then from traditional institutions like corporations".

Some mainstream media and corporations still view the opinions of parent bloggers as cute little air quotes while others understand that savvy parent bloggers are utilizing the power of their own community and technology to get what they need from each other. This enables the parent blogger communities to have access to a wide range of authentic and honest opinions. Blogs such as Momocrats enables parent communities to talk about politics - asking questions, having exclusive interviews with Obama and starting their own podcasts.  Our own Silicon Valley Moms Group blog posts share the mom experience within regional communities that gain strength from each other. Just check out our contributors' posts in areas such as Silicon Valley, DC Metro, New York City, Chicago, New Jersey, Deep South, Los Angeles and a blog for 50-Something Moms. The group also had the honor of meeting with famous moms who utilized social media to enable authentic interaction with mom communities including Elizabeth Edwards, California First Lady Maria Shriver and CBS News Anchor Katie Couric (with a post and YouTube video.). Katie Couric also contributed two posts to the New York City Moms Blog! Women bloggers even have their own community with BlogHer.

Parent bloggers are also using technology to present shopping in a whole new way with Cool Moms Picks, Want Not, Mums The Wurd and MomViews.  If you think moms don't have style, just check out SFBaystyle and Susan Wagner's BlogHer fashion column. They are also sharing their uncensored views on motherhood and sex, work life balance, yummy food, sports, diversity, dads (here and here) marketing in general, marketing to moms, Autism and technology. Bloggers are developing books from blogs and blogs from books (Rockabye, Best Little Sleep Book, Mommy Guilt, Peeing in Peace, Mama Knows Breast and On Becoming Fearless for just a few examples...). 

For those who may think all this blogging does not lead to real live contact, just check out Bossy's road trip (even covered by Mashable..), the BlogHer and BlogHer Business Conferences, countless live meet-ups  and our Silicon Valley Moms Blog, Chicago Moms Blog , DC Metro Moms Blog and New York City Moms Blog launch parties. Parent bloggers have used this online interaction to develop interest-based social circles beyond the borders of their local communities. And when they get together for live events, there is never a dull moment!

Smart corporations and mainstream media are embracing the Groundswell. The Silicon Valley Group Launch parties were sponsored by Graco. Lindsay Lebresco and her team built their own Graco Blog to interact with their community and engaged with the Silicon Valley Moms Group to form a relationship, steps that will enable them to thrive in the Groundswell. Yahoo! added some fun transportation to the parties and engaged the Silicon Valley Moms Group bloggers in discussions to provide feedback on products. After Disney sponsored an event for the Silicon Valley Moms Blog and found out my dream is to talk tech with a Disney Imagineer, they invited me to a media event and gave me access to talk to one directly (which I will write up next week).

Mainstream media is also embracing the Groundswell, with sites like the New York Times and,Wall Street Journal, LA Times and the Washington Post developing blogs of their own to interact with their communities. The San Francisco Chronicle has a site called SFGate that just yesterday posted an article (In Parenthood, sometimes a blog is born) highlighting Mena Trott, Meg Hourihan, and Charlene Li's (Groundswell co-author) use of social media. Parent bloggers are also utilizing social media platforms including Facebook, Typepad, Twitter, LinkedIn, Podcasts (here and here), YouTube, Flickr, Wikis and Email groups to interact with their communities online, offline with events, and moblie with social media applications on their smart phones.

CBS had the forethought to hire a viral marketing team that was knowledgeable about blogging and took the time to connect the Silicon Valley Moms Group with Katie Couric. In a move that shows CBS will thrive in the Groundswell, they not only gave use a tour of CBS studios while some of us were in New York for a conference, but also gave us the chance to sit with Katie Couric in HER OFFICE and have an amazing discussion about blogging and motherhood (one that we will never forget).  NBC took the time to film hours of quality discussion for a Today Show segment, although some feel that were were mis-understood.

I decided to start Techmamas to show that there were TECH SAVVY WOMEN out there having discussions about technology. Today on Mother's Day, I feel my voice being heard as part of the Groundswell. In addition to the many special gifts I received from my boys (including breakfast in bed, my boys planting flowers and time to write this post on a weekend), I can add gifts from Techmeme and Forbes.com. I was linked to a Techmeme discussion of social media noise and Mary Jane Irwin profiled my alter ego, Techmamas, on Forbes.com. All of this helps me feel good about doing my part to help media view moms as savvy, and dads proudly view their wives as a "MOM".

Original Silicon Valley Moms Blog Post. Beth Blecherman is one of the Partners of the Silicon Valley Moms Group and Founder of Techmamas.com.