Jessica Faye Carter has posted an excellent article on Mashable about women using social media. I personally found a lot of women are using social media effectively in their career, promoting their own brand, effecting social change and connecting to others.

Jessica gives some impressive numbers:

. The level of female involvement struck me: of the 87 million women active on the Internet , an estimated 67.5 million women are engaged with social media. And by now you’ve probably heard that women are now the majority of social media users on sites like Facebook , Twitter , and MySpace . This level of engagement indicates that there’s more to the story than just simple enjoyment of social interaction.

She also lists reason why women are using social media:

Today, women are continuing this linguistic innovation by adopting social media, a sort of hybrid of written and spoken language, and a perfect example of the kind of new linguistic form that women flock toward. One reason for women’s interest in social media has to do with its symbolic capital, and what it represents in our culture. As language changes often signify underlying social change (think tutoiement in the French Revolution), people adopting emerging forms of communication like social media, are also embracing the consonant social identities. Social media represents an identity that is modern, connected, and a little bit daring. It’s an identity that is understood to be comfortable with a certain amount of transparency, promotes information, and has a global outlook, as technology crosses geographic boundaries. It is participative in nature, and this opportunity to add new layers to their identities is part of what makes social media so attractive to women.

The other reason is more pragmatic: social media offers benefits and improvements to a woman’s quality of life.

Read the full article which gives key insight and observations.

The Root continued their multi-city series, Young, Fabulous and Female event in NYC last week Wednesday with a night of conversation about black women and they challenges that their are facing. Sponsored by Pepsi We Inspire, the event was held at the Alvin Ailey Citigroup Theater and was attended by over 200 women (and a few men). Jacque Reid, co-host of KISS-FM’s The D.L. Hughley Morning show, moderated the panel discussion with a great panel line-up: Tracey Ferguson, editor-in-chief of Jones Magazine and star of Centric TV’s reality show, Keeping Up with the Joneses; Lois Samuels, model and fashion designer; Edwina Findley, actress (Tremé); Donna Byrd, publisher of The Root; Raina Kelley, Newsweek staff writer; and Harriette Cole, president of Harriett Cole Media.

The conversation start off with a bang with what women and men really thought about rapper Slim Thug’s recent comments of black women in an interview. The rest of the discussion focused on theme of sisterhood, mentorship, balancing work/life issues, learning more about yourself and ways of how we can grow as women. The overall take away message was that the being fabulous is not about the clothes you wear or the shoes you rock but about being yourself. We have to love who we are and don’t letting anyone stop our goals. It’s okay to be scared, used that fear to start a plan where you want to be. A good tip about going after new opportunities was that you have to be willing to volunteer. Not everyone has the time to be a mentor. Avoid asking someone to go to lunch, ask to have coffee. There was tons of discussion going on online via the Twitter hashtag #youngfab.

All women can apply the advice given that night. It was such an empowering experience and would love to attend one again. Final words to remember: “We are responsible for the image we put out. We can change the way media see us.” and “Believe in the power of speaking things into existence”. I would like to thank The Root and Pepsi We Inspire for a great evening, Alvin Ailey Citigroup Theater for a beautiful venue and all of the successful and fabulous ladies of the panel.

Photo by LaVelle Finerson

This is an except from a blog post written by Adelaide Lancaster, co-founder of In Good Company.

clipped from www.huffingtonpost.com

In short, I am being asked: “How can we get female entrepreneurs to start those blockbuster businesses that are so often started by men?”

And I get very frustrated, because in my mind this is the wrong conversation.

These questions are problematic because they reinforce the strong dichotomy that exists in the mind of the general public between businesses that are fast-growing, capital-rich, and highly-visible (and undeniably mostly male) and businesses that grow more organically, remain closely held, have greater longevity, have less capital, and stay smaller.

The first group gets deemed the legitimate “real” entrepreneurs, while the latter group, especially if they are run by women, gets passed off as “lifestyle” or “lipstick” entrepreneurs. While in reality businesses in the latter group are run by both men and women, I’ve yet to see a man’s business pejoratively referred to as a “lifestyle” business.

This article was written by A.Michelle Blakeley. A.Michelle Blakeley is the Founder and CEO of Simplicity, Inc.; a progressive small business development firm. She manages her clients’ business expectations and prevents information overload via Micro Business Therapy™ and Micro Business Action Plans. She is featured in Forbes.com and the Financial Post as one of 30 Women Entrepreneurs to Follow on Twitter and the host of Simple Truths for Women Entrepreneurs on BlogTalkRadio.com.

It’s never too late to learn something new. Honing your business skills can help you maximize productivity and attain goals by providing strategic insight and applicable techniques. Don’t just take the time to learn something new. Knowledge unused is wasted. Implement what you learn and share it with others.

It doesn’t matter how you acquire information and new knowledge. However, it does matter that you actively pursue it and utilize it for the benefit of you and your business. Your business is a journey and just like with any trip, you see new things, learn new things and bring new things back with you. Make the most of your journey. Don’t just be a tourist; get to know the people and culture of where you are.

5 ways to hone your business skills:

1. Take a class online, live or via phone. Most of the time, these are cost-effective ways to acquire new information on a wide variety of topics. They are also convenient in terms of location and access.

2. Connect with a mentor. The wisdom that you gain from someone who has walked the walk is priceless. You can learn from their experiences and mistakes. You can expand on what has worked for them. Most importantly, you have emotional support and encouragement.

3. Read business magazines, books and reports. These are quick, yet powerful ways to discover quick tips, tools and techniques that will increase your knowledge and resources.

4. Join a business association related to your industry. Association memberships keep you aligned with best industry practices and legislation.

5. Sign up for a business retreat or convention out of town. Getting out of your “territory” and meeting new business owners is refreshing. You can see how things are done in other areas, expand your market base, collaborate with new connections and break the monotony of your daily routine.

Don’t get left behind. Failing to refresh yourself and ideas on a regular basis is a sure way to not only kill your creativity but dull your business senses. Use the venues above to keep your finger on the pulse of your target market, industry and relevance of your business. Your business skills are directly related to your business success.

The panel that I created and pitched for SXSW, The Broke Diaries: Blogging and Twittering about Living on The Cheap, will be on Friday, March 12 at 2PM

The panelists:

Larry Chiang Duck9.com

Hayes Davis CheapTweets.com

Emily Farris KC FreePress

Faye Penn Brokelyn.com

Moderated by me (Nichelle Stephens)

When it comes to professional degrees, women don’t pursue MBAs. According to the article on Women’s eNews, “Women clearly view business school as a more challenging and less welcoming atmosphere, however.”They more often go into law or medicine. NYU and other business schools are trying to change that by offering cooking classes and  private parties at Dylan’s Candy Bar.

Women-owned businesses are growing, so the rise of women pursuing MBAs should follow. However, it doesn’t to seem the case.  A lot of women who have started businesses in the past couple of years have done so out of necessity or passion. It is often a second career. The idea of being an entrepreneur may have not been in their career goals when they were in college.  Hopefully more women will pursue MBAs and build great businesses first.

From Small Biz Daily, there’s a nice article about women entrepreneurs bringing more jobs for the economy.  Here’s a snippet.

Writing on ForbesWoman.com, she notes, data from the Center for Women’s Business Ownership show that the 8 million women-owned businesses in the U.S. account for more than 23 million jobs—16 percent of all U.S. employment. But only one in five women-owned firms has revenues over $1 million. “If women entrepreneurs in the U.S. started with the same capital as men entrepreneurs, for instance, they would add a whopping 6 million jobs to the economy within five years–2 million of those in the first year alone, according to Babson College research,” Pinelli writes.

Pinelli believes the key to helping women business owners create jobs is helping them in three key areas: access to capital, business networks to help them scale their businesses, and global supply networks.

Brokelyn interviews the founder of LearnVest Alexa Von Tobel. I am a fan of LearnVest which is a personal finance site for women. Alexa talks about how she raised a million dollars for her startup. Congrats! BTW, I am also a fan of Brokelyn blog whose founder, Faye Penn, will be joining me on my SXSWi panel, The Broke Diaries.

I just found out that October is Women’s Small Business Month.  A new study shows that small businesses run by women are growing the economy.

The benchmark study, The Economic Impact of Women-Owned Businesses in the United States, showed that women-owned companies generate some $3 trillion in revenue and employ 23 million Americans–nearly double the number of people employed by the 50 biggest U.S. companies.

“Women-owned firms employ or generate a total of 16 percent of the jobs in our nation’s economy,” said Gwen Martin, executive director and director of research for the Center for Women’s Business Research.

Women-owned businesses were defined as privately held companies with at least 50 percent ownership held by women.

Read more about the study on Small Biz Daily.

Thinking of joining forces?  Nina Kaufman, of “Ask the Business Lawyer,” has developed a workshop on business partnerships and is holding a preview teleseminar tomorrow, Tuesday, October 6th at 800 PM.Visit Entrepreneurial Prenup for information and registration.