Our Online Voice Is Growing Just A Little Bit Louder

We who write in the mostly female genre of beauty and fashion have always flown under the radar of the male dominated online world. This is great in some respects (more fun, less harassment to deal with), and not so great in others (have you seen any beauty/fashion categories in all of these online awards?). I’m not sure why, but it never fails to surprise me that we are overlooked everywhere, when in fact there is a massive online presence of women - and a massive online presence of beauty and fashion. iVillage was one of the first to realize this, and the massive Glam.com is the best (love ya, Julieta!). This morning one of my favorite sites, Mashable, recognizes us (at least they are recognizing that “women are geeks too”) in their 2008 predictions:

With sites like GeekSugar popping up, directing all of their attention on the very subject of technology for women, there is no denying that this is a growing demographic. Men are going to have to get used to the idea they aren’t the most important thing around any more, and that sometimes sites are going to take a distinctly “female” flavor as they try to address these new users.

Would it be tacky to say that we are not, “new users?” I, for one, have been around since the birth of Prodigy and message boards, along with many other beauty professionals. Truly and honestly, the wonderful professional beauty community that is now Beautytech was one of the earliest adopters of the internet and its ability to bring people together into a social network. I have many, many women friends online -some of whom I have kept in touch with for 15 or so years now - in business, tech and women-specific products and services. I will say that while it is nice to see women noticed by Mashable as real users of the internet and tech products and services, it is a little surprising to me to see them address this like it is really something new for 2008.

Come find some amazing women’s interest content online here at b5media. Check out our Beauty & Style Channel (yeah, I know I’m always pimping us, but, we are GREAT! LOL), our huge and amazing Lifestyles Channel, and even our very own women-focused gadgets blogs at Gadgenista and Beauty Gizmo! Thankfully, those companies who rely on us “new users” for their livelihood have known where to find us for a very, very long time. We are here, we have been here, and we are definitely staying, growing and prospering online. Get used to it, and dare I say - embrace it.