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Discussion: Gender Differences in social networkingReported This is a featured thread

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markkhoo
markkhoo
Gender Differences in social networking
May 14 2008, 2:07 AM EDT | Post edited: May 14 2008, 2:07 AM EDT
I just posted on my blog a couple of days back, gendr differences when using social netwoking. I need more females perspectives to this, especially in an asian or local context, would apprecatie your help!

www.oldskoolmark.wordpress.com Do you find this valuable?    
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rachel.chia
rachel.chia
1. RE: Gender Differences in social networking
May 16 2008, 2:25 AM EDT | Post edited: May 16 2008, 2:25 AM EDT
female perspective given! heh. but seriously, i do think that women and men have little differences in using social networking tools. yes women may be more 'people oriented' and hence desire to connect with people more... but i'd argue that social networking tools are created for men and women alike! not much difference in definition there.

if you compare the demographics of the famous bloggers, for example - i wouldn't think they differ in terms of gender.

After looking at http://paa2005.princeton.edu/download.aspx?submissionId=51340 and http://family.jrank.org/pages/1603/Social-Networks-Gender-Differences-in-Social-Networks.html, however, i am convinced that the frequency of use of social networking tools varies between men and women after having gone through a crisis, or at different stages in life.

Men and women who use social networking tools more would be older people or youths, with more time on their hands. Working adults, usually, would be more occupied with their work lives or carving out careers for themselves.

anyone would like to comment on this? :) Do you find this valuable?    
ruth.chong
ruth.chong
2. RE: Gender Differences in social networking
May 16 2008, 8:31 AM EDT | Post edited: May 16 2008, 8:31 AM EDT
In my opinion, there might not be great differences in social networking. The slight difference might be females may be more 'person oriented', and males may be more 'objective' in the way they do things. Do you find this valuable?    
marikotk2005
marikotk2005
3. Gender differences culturally determined?
May 17 2008, 3:21 AM EDT | Post edited: May 17 2008, 3:21 AM EDT
Hey everyone!!!

I have read through some of the social media pages by country on our class website! :) And I found that the demographics of bloggers differed across countries! In some countries, the main people who blogged were women and in some countries, the main people who blogged were men.

So I think there are gender differences but these differences are culturally determined! After all, we are shaped by the conditions around us. Hence it is probably not surprising that the conditions in the country shape the respective behaviors of the men and women in the country! Do you find this valuable?    
communicateasia
communicateasia
4. RE: Gender differences culturally determined?
May 17 2008, 8:25 PM EDT | Post edited: May 17 2008, 8:25 PM EDT
You have the right idea here. Take a look at the data and see what it says. I must confess I have never been overly curious about the gender differences, either regarding 2.0 uptake or behavior differences once we are in the space, but I am certain that businesses will care as will some more politically oriented folks. This is a good line of questioning. Might be fun to see what happens if we divide up the resources and spend only 15 minutes looking at each and then reporting out. Eh? Do you find this valuable?    
markkhoo
markkhoo
5. RE: Gender differences culturally determined?
May 18 2008, 2:35 AM EDT | Post edited: May 18 2008, 2:35 AM EDT
Haha, this has sparked quite a conversation. My initial idea was only social networking sits like Facebook, Hifive, Myspace etc. I never really thought of the blogoshere, but the ladies seem to have reacted quite strongly to this.

What I found out for these sites in behavioral differences was that males tend to want to make new friends through these social networking sites (Primal instinct?), while females want to maintain and build closer relationships. I think it would've been interesting to note the differences because the message tailored to suit these stakeholders would have to be different. But this study was done in the US so I'm not too sure if gender behavior would cross culturally to Asian context. Do you find this valuable?    
ruth.chong
ruth.chong
6. RE: Gender differences culturally determined?
May 30 2008, 2:49 AM EDT | Post edited: May 30 2008, 2:49 AM EDT
Hey Mariko, I think its quite true about the different culture in the country will shape the perspectives behaviours of the men and women. With such differences, such as countries that women have no much right, then I think it will either make the women become very vocal due to "suppressed" condition to be able speak up through blogs OR not going to do much since they do not have much opportunity. Do you find this valuable?    
rachel.chia
rachel.chia
7. RE: Gender differences culturally determined?
May 30 2008, 4:17 AM EDT | Post edited: May 30 2008, 4:17 AM EDT
hey i agree! especially in countries that are less tech savvy (e.g. asian countries like vietnam, cambodia etc....) they're more used to males taking the lead.

i think it would take much time before technology catches up with these countries (or they catch up with technology), and evolution of mindset before women can stand on equal ground with men in voicing their opinions, be in on the internet, or places where their voices need to be heard! Do you find this valuable?