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RSSSince the release of last year's Benchmark Study, women are turning in even greater numbers to blogs (55%), social networks (75%) and online status updating (20%) as primary sources of community interaction, entertainment and information.
| Participation by Active US Women in Social Media (Millions) | ||
| Age Group | MM Online | MM Participate in Social Media |
| Millenials (18-26) | 13.3 | 9.7 |
| GenX (27-43) | 25.0 | 15.4 |
| Boomers (44-62) | 28.9 | 13.3 |
| Matures (63-77) | 11.9 | 3.6 |
| Source: Compass Partners, May 2009 | ||
Of the 42 million women engaged in social media weekly:
- 55% of women participate in some form of blogging activity
- 75% participate in social networks such as Facebook or MySpace
- 20% use Twitter
- 45% of survey respondents decided to purchase an item after reading about it on a blog
Susan Wright, President of Compass Partners LLC., says "Bloggers have a broad reach in the social media population... women who blog are the most actively engaged social media participants.. seeking out new ideas and ways to share their opinions... "
As a result of this increased activity, the 2009 study found that women online are now more than ever before spending less time engaging in traditional media activities like:
- Reading the newspaper (39%)
- Reading magazines (36%)
- Listening to the radio (31%)
- Watching TV (30%)
- Talking on the phone (28%)
- Meeting in person (19%)
The demographic profile of social media users and blog participants in the general population provides a targeting clue:
| Demographic Profile (% of General Population) | ||
| Demographic | Any Social Media User | Publish or Post a Blog |
| Married/Living together | 60% | 57% |
| Number in HH (actual number) | 3.1 | 3.2 |
| Children at home | 44 | 51 |
| Employed full time | 27 | 27 |
| Education |
|
|
| High school or less | 23 | 21 |
| Tech or trade school graduate | 6 | 6 |
| Some college/university | 22 | 21 |
| College/university grad | 22 | 21 |
| Post grad work | 4 | 4 |
| Master/doctorate degree | 7 | 6 |
| Income ($) |
|
|
| < $25,000 | 23 | 24 |
| 25-34.9 | 15 | 17 |
| 35-49.9 | 20 | 18 |
| 50-74.9 | 20 | 21 |
| 75-99.9 | 11 | 9 |
| 100-124.9 | 6 | 6 |
| > 125 | 5 | 5 |
| Source: Source: Compass Partners, May 2009 | ||
Elisa Camahort Page, BlogHer co-founder and COO, says "... when the economy is top of mind for more than 70 percent of these active social media participants... women are turning to online resources, including blogs, to help them make their day to day purchasing decisions."
| Sources Relied On For Topics of Interest (% who rely on source; multiple response OK) | |||
| Topic | Blogs | Social Networks | Index |
| Politics and News | 59.5% | 37.3% | 160 |
| Technology/Gadgets | 61.0 | 39.0 | 156 |
| Cars | 41.3 | 26.8 | 154 |
| Business/Career/Personal Finance | 52.7 | 35.6 | 148 |
| Green | 57.1 | 39.5 | 145 |
| Health/Wellness | 46.3 | 33.6 | 138 |
| Pregnancy/Baby | 55.2 | 43.1 | 128 |
| Arts and Crafts | 48.6 | 38.6 | 126 |
| Home & Garden | 46.4 | 37.0 | 125 |
| Food | 44.4 | 39.4 | 113 |
| Travel | 53.4 | 47.7 | 112 |
| Parenting | 49.4 | 46.1 | 107 |
| Sports | 46.3 | 43.8 | 106 |
| Social activism | 65.2 | 61.4 | 106 |
| Recipes/Cooking | 44.4 | 42.1 | 105 |
| Fashion/Beauty/Shopping | 44.1 | 46.4 | 95 |
| Entertainment (Movies/TV/Music/Books) | 48.2 | 56.1 | 86 |
| Shopping | 39.5 | 49.9 | 79 |
| Sex/Relationships/Dating | 45.5 | 59.0 | 77 |
| Source: Source: Compass Partners, May 2009 (Index compares blogs as source vs. social networks as source) | |||
The Executive Summary (PDF format) of the 2009 Women in Social Media Study by BlogHer, iVillage and Compass Partners can be found here:
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