FOMO: Fear of Missing Out

by Jack Loechner, Oct 29, 2012, 6:15 AM

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According to new findings from the 2012 Connecting and Communicating Online: State of Social Media study, conducted by Harris Interactive, women are more likely to be a member of Facebook and to login more frequently than current male members. And, while men and women average the same number of email addresses, the study finds that women are also more likely to be checking their e-mail accounts more often.

 Jeff Tinsley, CEO of MyLife, says that “... women... report a greater fear of missing out on something important... logging in more frequently to check both Facebook and their email accounts... “

Women are more susceptible to have a fear of missing out (FOMO), says the report, and 47% wish there were a solution to help them manage their multiple social networking profiles (vs. 40% of men)

• 65% of women (vs. 59% of men) say they keep an eye on their social networking profiles because they don’t want to miss news or an important event or status update
• 25% of female respondents said they typically visit or log-on to their social networking profiles when they wake up, before they check their email accounts. Only 18% of men report checking social networking profiles before e-mail

The report says that women may be responsible for more of the status updates in the Facebook newsfeed. And, of online adults who are a member of at least one social networking site, women were more likely to belong to Facebook and also login more frequently. 

• 95% of women surveyed belong to Facebook vs. 86% of men
• 67% of women login to Facebook once a day or more as compared with 54% of male Facebook members
• 21% of women login 2-3 times a day vs. 15% of men
• Only 13% of women say they login to Facebook less than once a week. One in five (20%) of men said the same

Men and women both average just under three email addresses per user (2.7 for men vs. 2.6 for women) but women are keeping a closer watch on their inbox, with more than 4 in 5 women checking their email daily:

• 83% of women check their primary email once a day or more vs. 75% of men
• This goes up to 90% of females age 35-44 as compared with 85% of men the same age

Facebook it isn’t the only social network that sees different usage patterns between the genders. Much has been made of Pinterest’s popularity with women, but it’s actually men who are more likely to share on the site. 

• 44% of women use Pinterest mainly for consumption; guys are more likely to say they use the site primarily for sharing, 23% vs. just one in 10 women (10%)
• Women are more likely to be passive viewers when it comes to YouTube as well; 68% of women use the video site primarily for consumption vs. 52% of men
• Though women were as likely as men to have a Twitter account (24% vs. 23%), they were much less likely to check it frequently; 54% of women said they only visit the site about once a week compared with two-thirds of men

 N.B. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.

For more information, please visit MyLife here.

 

 

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