How could I not cover the panel on the state of the Momosphere? Of course I will recap. The panelists were an amazing group of women that I deeply respect. Chris Jordan, Catherine Conners and Lena Lotsey with moderator Jory Des Jardins. (We deeply missed Mommy & Family's own editor Nordette, but she was in our thoughts.) It was a standing room only crowd. (Go, Momosphere!)

The discussion came up that at times the momosphere can seem like high school and seem political in nature. Allison of Lemonade Life live-blogged the session. In her coverage she noted this part of the conversation:

For the first part of the conversation, the panelists (Catherine Connors, Lena Lotsey and Chris Jordan) discussed relationships between the newbies and the veteran mommybloggers and the mommybloggers with babies and the mommybloggers with elementary-age and older children. They discussed whether the momosphere was political, and Catherine argued that while it might seem political - or like high school which was the recurring analogy - that the momosphere (and I think the O.C. as well) is more like a party or a salon.

“You make friends, you move, there are bigger groups, they shift and change. But that’s not political, that’s social,� Catherine explained.

Very good points. I think a deeper discussion about what does happen when a mom who has been blogging about her young children grows out of that phase. There are a lot of us out there and we enjoy the social atmosphere and the camaraderie as much as the mothers of young children. We just are facing different issues. There is definitely room for all of us. In my opinion we just need to get the parenting sites to realize that our children do grow up beyond the age of six. They really do!

And what about blogrolls?

Chris Jordan posed the question, “How do you manage a blogroll? How do you do it withoutmaking anyone feel left out?�

There was a bit of discussion on that and when asked who actually dropped their blogrolls, many hands went up. Are blogrolls on their way out and linking within your entries to other bloggers the new way to go? I would love to hear what you think.

Robyn on Silicon Valley Moms Blog wrote about the issue of the commercialization of the momosphere.

There was a civil discussion about the commercialization of the momosphere. Women that spoke about not allowing for a monetization of blogging. Reasons varied from protecting children to it as hobby to trying ads and then removing them later. Opposing agurments were that monetization that it brought validity to her blog. Another stated that she shouldn't be ashamed to receive money from her blog just because she writes about motherhood. The feminist in me totally agrees. We shouldn't be shamed into accepting ads and we shouldn't be shamed from choosing to not have them. Just as our content is personal, this is a personal choice too.

I loved the final sentence there. Just as our content is personal, this is a personal choice too. Have ads. Don't have ads. You have to do what works for you without guilt or feeling like you are corrupting what you are doing. It is personal. I couldn't agree more!

Finally, in a discussion I want to see go well beyond this session and straight to the ears/eyes of marketers:

How can corporate marketers do a better job in marketing to the momosphere? Why are they eliminating moms of color? Where is the diversity?

This issue must be discussed. And discussed. And discussed until it is no longer and issue.

As for the initial topic: The State of the Momosphere: I think this panel did an excellent job of telling where they felt it was and letting the audience tell where they felt it was now and where it may or should go.

Here are a few links I have found of people who either live-blogged it or wrote about it:
Miss Priss.org
Silicon Valley Moms Blog
Lemonade Life

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Cross posted on BlogHer
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~Jenn is off to try to figure out the state of her momosphere here at home.~

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You can find more of my writing at Mommy Needs Coffee, Mommybloggers and Work It, Mom!