Gender and Social Media

Recently, a book by Nancy Jo Sales entitled American Girls came out and was featured as part of an NPR topic of All Things Considered. The book discusses the experiences and the social media lives of young women, particularly teenaged and school aged girls. She describes the differences in experiences and expectations for young women versus young men on social media and the results reflect many of the same pressures young women face in their regular daily lives. They face social and sexual pressure in addition to the expectations to be considered pretty and sexy particularly by their young male counterparts.

In fact, there are many differences in the social media habits of men and women. Such differences may influence the ways in which marketers and brands try to target and reach these audiences. a recent report reflected that women are more likely to use social media than men.

 

 

Not all think that gender and social media are influenced by the traditional structures of society. In a Ted Talk, Johanna Blakely provides an overview of the ways in which she thinks social media has allowed for gender to become irrelevant in online spaces. Her stance is controversial and many feminists disagree with her position but it is interesting to consider the ways in which gender may change, shape or blur ones social media and online experience.

In the average American home, women are actually responsible for much of the discretionary and household spending and therefore may be uniquely targeted or a desirable target audience for many brands and companies to reach through social media. As demonstrated by the graphic below, women make influential choices across many different industries, They also have unique patterns of what they buy online versus men, opting to buy clothing and shoes online much more frequently then men. The graphic also highlights some of the ways in which successful brands may reach their female audiences or the ways in which they alienate them through specific marketing campaigns as evidenced by Harley-Davidson's lower situated seats for women or Dr. Pepper's "Its Only for Men" campaign.

 

 

Men and women have some stark contrasts in their online use and mobile purchasing choices



From a marketing perspective, the graphic below highlights the ways in which men and women make different kinds of purchases on their mobile devices. Mobile banking and mobile purchasing have been one big trend and initiative that social media has enabled in the last few years. In addition, the technology and accessibility of purchasing on mobile devices has advanced very quickly, in large part due to the platforms provided by social media or partnerships with the applications that provide the platforms. Have you had an experience with social media, online shopping or marketing that was particularly gendered? Can you think of a time gender based marketing may have influenced your decision to purchase a product?