Thanks for making this list Ian (and including me! I’m very flattered)
It definitely irks me that women aren’t recognized as often as men when it comes to these types of lists. I will happily re-tweet!

Kelly

OOOOOOOOH! Katie Paine!! http://kdpaine.com/

Dave,

I understand your point: but I see countless conferences, “leaders lists” and interviews featuring many more men in social media than they feature women. Many conferences are dominated by male speakers, speaking to a male audience using a male context. It’s not a male/female thing simply in social media: it’s a male/female thing in all industries. When a women’s voices are regularly ignored, not sought out this demonstrates and there is a failure to treat the sexes equally. I think social media as a new “industry” risks falling into the same patterns as old-boys business clubs.

Ian

Flattered to have made your list, Ian! I agree with all of the others too – they are brilliant ladies, each and every one.

I’d also add Deb Brown (@debworks, http://debworks.blogspot.com/), Beth Harte (@BethHarte) http://www.theharteofmarketing.com/, and Kathryn Jennex (@northernchick http://www.kathrynjennex.com/)

Joan Vinall-Cox: http://twitter.com/joanvinallcox

She’s pretty awesome.

Ian, it would be great to add in their Twitter names… and even better to add a blurb about their focus.

Hi, Ian ..

Thanks for channeling your frustration about the original list into this post! We definitely need more people taking action than just complaining about something. I very much appreciate you including me on the list (plus, it shames me into writing a new post on my blog). And I know a lot of folks can be derisive about these lists (gendered or not), but I always find a few new people I didn’t know about. So thank you for doing this!

Cheers .. k

I’d have to add @JessicaKnows (Jessica Smith of JessicaKnows.com and Fleishman-Hillard) to the list. She is an amazing woman with groundbreaking ideas. Very dedicated to helping those new to social media/networking.

Love the list!

FYI: Twitter links in the first set of recommendations are not working correctly. The links are incorrect and are trying to redirect to a page (that doesn’t exist) within the site.

Thanks to Dave Jones for the nomination. And thanks Ian for compiling this list.

Thanks so much for including me, Ian. I appreciate it, especially given that lots of my friends and colleagues are on this list, or have been added, which is awesome to see.

I’d add Donna Tocci (@DonnaTocci), who is less well-known perhaps, but (as we say in Boston) Wicked Smaht….

Heavens! I’ve fixed the spelling of Beth’s name now. Apologies Ms. Kanter.

For shame for creating an almost all-boy list of social media experts. Guess which consumer segment accounts for the lion’s share of growth in social media? Yep, it’s moms.

Maybe I missed it, but I didn’t see Mari Smith’s name on your list. She was one of the original players in Social Media, and continues to be a major force. She certainly deserves to be on there. Some of the people listed might have even learned from her. She’s on Twitter @marismith. Thanks for the list!

George

I should have also mentioned the managing director of iStudio Canada is Katherine Fletcher, another awesome woman in the digital space. (iStudio is Fleishman-Hillard’s digital brand in Canada and my employer.)

Cheers,
Eden

Hey Ian!
Thank you so much for including me in the company of such incredible women!

This is an important and timely topic. I’ve shared more thoughts on my blog here: http://tr.im/xKP7.

The gist of which is this: Gender should not be part of the criteria (nor do I think it is) when choosing speakers on a panel, mentors, or industry leaders. Vision, courage, insight, wisdom, integrity, innovation, compassion. These all seem like far better criteria to me. Don’t they?

Great to see so many of our bloggers on this list, and to see women be specially recognized. Choosing 2 out ohttp://www.mediastyle.ca/2009/09/20-leading-women-in-social-media/f 20 is nothing less than total blindness. There are some very effective women in whatever constitutes social media, but all too often they are drowned up by the blow-hards. If social media is to be taken seriously, if it is to begin to take a decent percentage of the corporate marketing budget, it will be because women like these are being paid attention to.

I’d also like to have seen some very effective business women on this list, including Diane Hessan of Communispace and Gina Bianchini of Ning.

Gotta throw two out there:

Becky McCray:
http://twitter.com/beckymccray
http://www.smallbizsurvival.com

Becky has created an amazing community for small business owners in rural areas. Provides massive amounts of content and practical application to help others be better and do more with their business using social media.

Liz Strauss
http://twitter.com/lizstrauss
http://www.successful-blog.com

Have only been following her for a few weeks, but see a great amount of passion and knowledge coming from her already. Surprised she isn’t on this list after seeing her credentials.

Wow – thanks for adding me to a list of fantastic women who ROCK the social media sphere. They’ve taught me just to be out there every day and do your thing. And do it well, consistently.
@debworks

not considering sex in shout-out lists or conference speakers etc is akin to saying we’re so progressive that we’re colour blind, then having only white folks in the room. even in an innovative field like social media where women are gloriously representin’, we all have to be deliberate in naming and recognizing them otherwise ian’s right, the ol’ boys club becomes the default.

so thanks, ian, for igniting this showcase.

On behalf of women in the social media sphere – and not – thanks.

What about Kathryn Finney (www.thebudgetfashionista.com), who not only has a large number of twitter followers, but also has a huge website and started the site The Budget Fashionista in 2003, which is paved the way for sites like Bargainista.

I’d nominate Margaret Wallace — @margaretwallace

Very (very) late comment, but please, please, please send this list to Margaret Wente at the Globe and Mail, who just blithely announced that women don’t participate in tech. She’s been roundly criticized for it, but this list should be required reading for her.