BlogHer is an American community and media company founded by Elisa Camahort Page, Jory des Jardins, and Lisa Stone in 2005. The company, Blogher LLC, includes conferences and a blog advertising network. In 2007, it expanded to include BlogHers Act, a political blogging network by and for women. Dan Gillmor quoted the site's community guideline "We embrace the spirit of civil disagreement" as an ideal.
History
BlogHer began as a conference in 2005 in San Jose, California. It began with an idea and a blog, and once announced, quickly grew to a 300-person conference on women and blogging. The second BlogHer conference was held in San Jose and was much larger than the first, with at least 750 attendees. BlogHer '07 keynote speakers in Chicago include Rashmi Sinha, Gina Bianchini, Annalee Newitz, Elizabeth Edwards, and Esther Dyson. In 2007, the community events also expanded to a business blogging conference in March in New York City. BlogHer Business keynote speakers included Elisa Camahort, Jeannette Gibson, Stephanie Bergman, Rachel Clarke, Lisa Weinstein, Lisa Stone, Debi Fine, Marissa Mayer, Stacy Morrison, and Caroline Little. In 2008, the BlogHer cofounders were honored with the Social Impact ABIE Award from the Anita Borg Institute. On July 16, 2008, iVillage, a network of online media outlets owned by NBC Universal, announced that it had reached a partnership with the BlogHer network to provide content for sites across the iVillage network. Additionally, BlogHer received $5 million in funding from Peacock Ventures, NBC Universal's venture investment arm. Blogher 2010 was held in New York City from August 6–7, at the Hilton New York. Blogher 2011 was held in San Diego in August. Blogher 2012 was held in New York City from August 2–5, at the Hilton New York. The conference was the largest ever, with more than 5,000 registered attendees. Many notable speakers were a part of the conference, including a live video appearance from President Barack Obama. Also featured were keynote sessions with Martha Stewart, Katie Couric, and a panel of celebrities-doing-good: Soledad O'Brien, former model Christy Turlington and Malaak-Compton Rock, a philanthropist and comedian Chris Rock's wife. Blogher 2013 was held in Chicago at McCormick Place from July 25–27, and featured speakers Guy Kawasaki and Sheryl Sandberg. On November 3, 2014, BlogHer was bought by SheKnows Media.
In 2006, BlogHer started a group blog featuring over 60 women blogging on a variety of subjects. Its forums expanded to include a large worldwide community of bloggers who are women.
