Why Women Rule The Internet
Tech Crunch had an interesting article out today that discussed women's use of the Internet. Turns out that when it comes to social networking websites and shopping websites, women tend to use them far more frequently than men.
Comscore, Nielsen, MediaMetrix and Quantcast studies all show women are the driving force of the most important net trend of the decade, the social web. Comscore says women are the majority of users of social networking sites and spend 30% more time on these sites than men; mobile social network usage is 55% female according to Nielsen.
And the following quote probably won't surprise you because it's exactly what we have discussed in class:
Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, has talked about how women are not only the majority of its users, but drive 62% of activity in terms of messages, updates and comments, and 71% of the daily fan activity. Women have 8% more Facebook friends on average than men, and spend more time on the site. According to an early Facebook team member, women played a key role in the early days by adopting three core activities—posting to walls, adding photos and joining groups—at a much higher rate than males.
From what we learned and discussed in class, why do you think that women "rule" social networking websites?
Allie,
ReplyDeleteThese are some really interesting statistics but not at all surprising. I'm sure if you polled every Facebook user, posing the question of "who do you think is more active on Facebook: men or women?" nearly all of them would say women. And one of the main reasons behind this is self-esteem. Many women, especially girls between the ages of 13-25, feel they can achieve some level of self-assurance through social networking sites. Facebook is a way for women to validate their relationships with other men and women and show others they are well-liked and popular. It's always skeptical when someone pops up on your news feed multiple times in a row with a status update, writing on multiple people's walls, and posting pictures - all at the same time. And especially when this kind of behavior happens more than once a week, you have to wonder what this person is trying to achieve being so active on Facebook.