The Social Media Gender Gap

We’ve known for a long time that men and women communicate differently, just ask Dr Phil, but did you know just how different we can be when it comes to social media?

Burst Media recently discovered that one of the genders are more active than the other in social. Guess who’s leading the revolution? The women, of course. (Yeah, you might have guessed it: I’m a woman. No bias here whatsoever though…) We’re serving you the facts fresh out of the research oven.

• Women in the US are moving faster to digital than men. In fact, 24% of American women say they socialize more with friends online than in-person. Only 13% of men say the same.
• 19% of Americans overall are socializing more online than in-person.
• American respondents with higher education are more likely to spend time socializing online than “in the real world”.
• Contrary to the US, Europeans are actually the least likely to be spending their time online. Only 14% say that they socialize more online vs. in-person.

Research from comScore also shows that women engage more in social, and spend 30% more time on social networking sites than men. But what can explain that women are savvier in social than men? According to Mashable, one suggestion is that the intrinsic difference between men and women also reflects their behavior in social. Women use social media to interact, share, and build relationships and communities. Their online presence is simply more powerful and has more impact on their peers. Men, on the other hand, view social media more as a tool for gathering information or access entertainment.

This is important information for marketers because the women are the ones that are making key household decisions. Women make a whopping 85% of all the financial household decisions on everything from food to autos. As we all know, marketers need to be where their customers are. Chances are extremely high that the majority of your customers will be women, and these are embracing social media at high speed.

Here at BzzAgent, we happen to know a thing or two about these social savvy women. A lot of our amazing BzzAgents are in fact women. They are social, and they are highly influential. They love sharing recommendations and opinions, and they do it because they are genuinely interested in helping others make better purchase decisions. The lesson for marketers is therefore: Keep up and get your social bzz on. Your female customers are ready.

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