More Women Than Men Participate in Social Networks

Except for LinkedIn, more women are on social networks than men. That is according to data released by RapLeaf, an online reputation management company based in San Francisco. I had a hunch about this phenomenon a while back when I started hearing of mommy bloggers, but I had not seen data to back it up. But now we have some hard numbers. According to this report, not only are women participating more, but on average they also have more friends than men.  Pretty interesting.

I showed the charts to some of the women in my office and solicited some feedback on why they thought more women were on social networks than men. Of course I had to tell them to not say “cause women are awesome”, but some did anyway! Here are some of their responses:

Rita: I think historically that women have more friends and are more social than men.  They also get more personally involved in their friends lives.

Anna: Looking at the demographics, it seems that the majority of women online are under the age of 25. So I’m thinking it’s probably a way to socialize online after school and the easiest way to keep in touch with friends about what’s going on.

Sara: I think it’s because women tend to be more social than men in general, especially regarding communication. Social marketing sites are great for women because women like to do more than just check up on their friends, they like to communicate with them frequently. It’s the same principle as women being on the phone all the time; except instead of the phone, they are leaving comments and messages on these sites. I think women cling to their friendships and acquaintances more so than men, which may explain why they have lots of friends. I know on Myspace and Facebook, I have lots of people I went to high school with as my ‘friends’ but rarely do I actually interact with them.

Megan:

  1. Women are more efficient workers; they finish their work before 5PM and surf the web until the bell rings.
  2. Women are more social creatures by nature and feel a need to connect with people whether it be in person or by phone/text/email/social marketing networks.
  3. There are more women in the world than men.
  4. ‘Cause women are awesome!

I guess the bottom line is women are more social and they connect more easily. Here are the charts from the Rap Leaf report:

Social Networks Demographic Profile

Facebook Demographic Breakdown

MySpace Demographics

LinkedIn Demographics

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