Odd Dad Out: Cards For Corn Syrup
Some of you know about a project I've been working on for the past several months called Odd Dad Out: Daddy Blogging in a Mommy's World. It's a collaborative site with regular and guest writers who are longtime mom and dad bloggers and/or have expertise in PR, marketing, web design, social media, publishing, etc. The fundamental intent for the site is to help readers who are interested in using their own blogs to become influences (note: I did not say make money), and although it's targeted to dad bloggers, the content actually applies to anyone. There will be more about the intent of the project later. Plus there's a little bit of humor involved.
I hadn't planned on announcing it until November after I had all the contributors who had given me verbal commitments lined up, and I had more content than just the filler stuff on there now. However, two recent events in the mom and dad community occurred that were too good to ignore.
On the dad side, if you're plugged in then you probably know about the "dad blogs suck" discussion taking place all over. This all began after Megan Jordan and I gave a presentation on "What Dad Bloggers Can Learn from the Moms" at the Type A Mom Conference. The "Do Dad Blogs Suck" question was then raised by Clay Nichols of DadLabs and has subsequently evolved into a spirited debate particularly in the comments section on a site called Glad Dads.
At the same time the moms have been talking high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), after several Mom Central bloggers wrote about the merits of the stuff as part of an organized campaign by the Corn Refiners Association (CRA). Most of the discussion has centered around the related health issues, but there has also been a lot of concerns raised about blog integrity and honesty as well as reviews for peanuts, this on top of the fact that moms involved were working on behalf of a controversial lobbyist group.
These sort of issues are in many ways foreign to the dad community, but for those of us looking to go beyond our niche with our blogs to influence issues such as the negative perceptions of fathers, the HFC incident makes for a good example of what we should be aware of, (especially if someone's signed up for Dad Central). I and others will elaborate more later on the topic of influence, but for the time being take a moment to at least become familiar with the level of awareness moms have when it comes to the word of blogging?
Cards For Corn Syrup
(from Odd Dad Out)
This week a sweet debate erupted within the mommy blogger/moms who blog community over a coordinated blogging tour meant to aid in dispelling the misconceptions associated with consuming high fructose corn syrup, or HFCS. The tour was part of an extensive “Sweet Surprise” campaign initiated by the Corn Refiners Association (CRA), a Washington DC-based lobbyist group dedicated to the fair and ethical treatment of …corn. (Okay, refined corn if you want to get technical.) Read the rest here.
