Behavioral differences between the genders are inherently interesting, and doubly so for people trying to make money on 'em. In that spirit, an interesting new study from Nielsen found that
women use mobile devices to get on the Internet for social media purposes 10% more than men, including "tweeting" or checking into social networks like Facebook or MySpace. Nielsen found Women's
mobile social network usage led men's 55%-45%.
What the Nielsen study didn't do is present explanations for this behavioral difference. Now, trying to unwind the reasons for this kind of
thing can be politically perilous - I was raised by a diehard feminist, and have learned to tread carefully on these issues. So I am not going to present stereotypes of women as a bunch of Chatty
Cathys and men as a bunch of mute cavemen, baring their teeth at their mobile Web browsers in flickering firelight. Setting the cartoon imagery aside, what might explain the behavioral difference?
One thing which occurred to me is that there is something about mobile access in particular which appeals to women -- maybe because they are increasingly on the go (surveys have confirmed this
trend, epitomized by the overworked mom rushing from her job to soccer practice to dinner to volunteer work).
I'm even more inclined to think it's the mobile component -- rather than the
social network component, per se -- in light of another survey from Liberty Mutual, which found that men are actually heavier users of social networks overall, at least by some measures. Among other
things, Liberty Mutual found that men are more likely to have more than one social network account (57% of men, versus 50% of women) and are also more likely overall to check into social networks more
than once a week: 35% of male MySpace members check in several times a week, versus 26% for women, while 53% of men log in to Twitter several times a week, versus 38% for women.
But of
course I'm just offering a speculation -- I'd be interested to hear other explanations or takes on the mobile social network gender gap.
P.S. Another interesting, and somewhat
counter-intuitive, finding from Nielsen: the most active mobile social networking age cohort is 35-54. I totally would have guessed the 20-somethings would dominate. Just goes to show you should never
assume, because it makes an ass out of my Japanese exchange student, Ume (he's new here and doesn't need that kind of trouble).