About a week ago, my colleague Ariel and I attended BlogHer ’12, an annual two-day gathering of 5000+ bloggers, most of whom (as the name suggests) are female. It was her first time and it proved a valuable learning experience, as you can read from her post.
My first BlogHer was in 2006, when I went on behalf of our client Weight Watchers Online, who sponsored the event based on our recommendation. there were 750 bloggers in attendance that year and we barely took up the conference space at a small hotel in San Jose. But still, I was impressed by the force of the burgeoning group of influencers.
As I sat at BlogHer ’12, it occurred to me that Ariel was a junior in high school in 2006. I didn’t walk miles barefoot in the snow to get to the conference, but my how things have changed. In 2006:
- No one talked about Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Pinterest. We had to wait until the evening to see what the bloggers were thinking about the event. I recall that they didn’t even offer Wi-Fi (which, of course, was the subject of many posts). In 2012, every session was live tweeted by multiple bloggers using dedicated hashtags.
- There weren’t many brand sponsors. At BlogHer ’12, a session on Brand-Blogger connection played to a packed room as well as an overflow space. I was stunned to hear panelists from Huggies and Hershey speak as though bloggers had to come to them to pitch ideas on how to partner. While they spoke of the importance of “value exchange,” I also heard phrases like, “We use bloggers to … ” and “You are the vehicle to get our message out.”
- Arianna Huffington was the keynote. Now she’s a big deal, but back then the HuffPo was only a year old. This year, there were multiple high-profile speakers, including Martha Stewart, Katie Couric and Soledad O’Brien. Even President Obama addressed attendees live via satellite. I am sure the other speakers were paid top dollar to be there; but, the upgrade speaks volumes about the power of the event and its attendees.
We attend this event to understand how the growing influence of bloggers is impacting traditional media consumption as well as to hear the latest on how brands can navigate the ever-changing landscape to garner exposure. I can’t think of an account we’re handing that blogger relations isn’t part of the mix. And from the looks of BlogHer ’12, that’s not changing any time soon.