BlogHer Business 07 — I'll be there

March 22 and 23 you'll find me in New York City where I’ll be joining about 200 women (and a few "token" guys) from the business blogosphere at the BlogHer conference (theme: How to Succeed in a Social Media World).

(Unlike traditional media — licensed print, online, broadcasting, and production companies — social media are online tools that users produce or influence, and that foster collaboration and sharing. Example social media are Wikipedia, MySpace, YouTube, and Flickr. Also, blogs [estimated 60 million as of November 2006!], message boards, and podcasts.)

I am excited to be meeting a party of wired people while I learn more about online collaboration and sharing among users and what others are doing and want to accomplish. Lucky me! I have a bloghership (free conference registration) in exchange for being an official conference live audio blogger who is contributing to the text, video, and audio conference record.

Companies that listen to audiences are rare. Most businesses still look at audiences as passive receivers of one-way conversations that push products and services on them. This two-day, highly interactive conference will address questions that enlightened business players are asking about social media, such as when and how to use its tools, and about social media integration — how to interact with customers, clients, partners, and employees who are already part of the social media world.

Photos show ListenShare's Stephanie Roberts and two cool dudes at the BlogHer Conference '06 in San Jose, California (theme: How Are Your Blogs Changing Your World?).

On the left, Guy Kawasaki, Managing Partner of Garage Technology.

You can listen to Steph's individual interviews of Guy; Arianna Huffington, Founder of the Huffington Post; and others during that conference.

And on the right, George Kelly — waaay too many hats, talents, and interests to list despite his claim, "I'm just a no-name reporter. I wish I had nothing 2 say."

BlogHer mission: to create a community resource and meeting place opportunities for women bloggers pursuing exposure, education, and community. BlogHer developed Business Conference 07 in response to the overwhelming popularity of the Business Blogging content tracks at its previous two sold-out BlogHer Conferences.