Europe's first-ever conference for women business bloggers is being held in the UK next month in the

The BBC is reporting the new survey by Nielsen/NetRatings showing that in the UK women aged 18- 34 are the dominant group and spend the most time online, see: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/technology/6662469.stm

Blogging is becoming big business and the involvement of high profile speakers from Microsoft and AOL signifies the growing importance of the phenomenon among women in the commercial world, and the survey reveals just why the landmark conference is long overdue.

The Women, Business and Blogging Conference at De Montfort University in Leicester on 8 June will include keynote speakers Jory Des Jardins, co-founder of the ground-breaking BlogHer organisation in the US, Meg Pickard, former Consumer Experience Lead at AOL Europe now Head of Communities and User Experience for Guardian Unlimited, and Microsoft Technology Evangelist Eileen Brown.

Jory Des Jardins said: "It makes perfect sense that women bloggers are the Web's most powerful influencers: bloggers are word-of-mouth machines and women are responsible for most household purchases. But it's only recently that marketers are learning to tap into this influence."  

The Women, Business and Blogging Conference is being run by NLab at De Montfort University, headed by Professor of New Media, Sue Thomas. 

Prof Thomas said: "Young women are a hugely important market and many of them either read or write blogs. Blogs are a direct line between companies and the opinions of their customers."

There have been no European events focusing specifically on women and social media - until now. All the speakers are women and we'll be talking about women users, readers and bloggers. But men are also welcome to attend the conference and participate in the sessions. If your business is blogging, you can't afford to miss this event."  

For more information about the event, how to register, and to catch up with the conference blog go to http://www.nlabwomen.com or call 0116 250 6213. Bursary places are available for delegates from the East Midlands region. 

Eileen Brown, Technology Evangelist Manager at Microsoft, will talk about changing customer perception through blogging. "Over the past five years Microsoft staff have noticed a shift in customer and audience perception. 

Through the use of our innovative blogging guidelines, smart managers and the passion of the people who work for the company, customer interaction through wikis and blogs has brought about a measurable upswing in satisfaction. This is about technologies that have shown "the human face" of Microsoft to our customers," said Eileen Brown.