For my final installment into the world of SXSW 2011, let’s discuss a few panels on my second favorite topic, blogging. There were two panels I attended that spoke to issues that come up in blogging. First up was “The End Of Shame,” a discussion on the ever popular topic of “oversharing” online featuring comedian Heather Gold, journalist Jeff Jarvis, writer Melissa Gira Grant and makelovenotporn.com founder Cindy Gallop. Each panelist had an experience with what was dubbed by the outside world as an “overshare” from Jarvis’s openness about prostate cancer to Gold’s open discussion of a miscarriage. The reaction to each of their revelations was different, which both panelists theorized was because of their gender.

Gira Grant, who started out online as a cam girl mentioned that blogging as we know it started due to the old school online journals dozens of people were keeping in the early days of the web. Gallop shared what happened when her infamous TED talk on “Make Love Not Porn” was finally posted on YouTube, a place not known for its kind commenters. She insisted on moderating the comments herself, even forging relationships with several of her haters, and changing their perception of her.

Monetizing your overshare was more of the topic of discussion at a panel held the following morning in the same room called “Online Mom Communities = Hotbed of Local Influencers” hosted by Jennifer James and Lindsay Maines. This conversation was of particular interest to me as I work with many mom bloggers in my job on the Blogger Relations team here at EdenFantasys. Mom bloggers are definitely a marketer’s dream and this panel sought to “demystify” many of the myths surrounding this highly desirable niche. In the end, I walked away with information I already knew, which I tweeted at the time: “Mombloggers are not rocket science. They’re just providing content, living their lives, no real mystique. Just be nice and respectful.” An emphasis was made on maintaining good relationships with mom bloggers and I would say this is true of any blogging community.

While the provocative statements made by Cindy Gallop and others like her may seem like the furthest thing away from a typical mom blog, I believe these are both sides of the same coin. They are both groups of women talking about their experiences in life, honestly and openly. Both sex bloggers and mom bloggers take risks by living online as openly as they do, and both have opportunities to monetize their experiences should they decide to go down that route. I wonder what would happen if we got them both in the same room to talk about their experiences. Perhaps at SXSW 201 mom bloggers and sex bloggers can band together and join forces!