Who is driving social media in the US, part 2 The Editorial

Recently we received an email from FinancesOnline.com inviting us to share their article “Most Popular Social Media Sites Review: Why Women Are The Real Power Behind The Huge Success of Pinterest and Tumblr” with our readers. As the resident female I said, Okay I’ve got this.

So what FinancesOnline.com is extrapolating from Pew Research, Burst Media, and Nielsen is the following: Women are on the top social media sites in larger percentages than men, the only exception being LinkedIn. Women use these sites more often, and longer, and in different ways. While women access these sites marginally more on smartphones then men do, they use tablets significantly more. Women interact with brands more often. Women are more likely than men to consume news on social media.

As the resident female, after reading the article my reaction was, “Shouldn’t this be obvious?” I mean In General (and there are always exceptions) women are more social, cooperative, we spread information amongst our various circles, and we tend to be more brand conscious. Why is it such a bloody surprise, then, that women are consuming more social media?

Oh, right, we’re supposed to not get technology.

Look, guys (and I DO mean guys): technology has become such of part of our society (that’s a social thing, you know) that it cannot and should not be looked at through gender-biased eyes any more. Quite frankly, I would think that age, education, and maybe location would be of more use to advertisers in deciding how to reach whatever different segments they’re trying to reach.

Remember my article last summer about women making up a slight majority in gaming now? Games are more social – casual Facebook games, MMOs that require cooperative guild runs, even 1st person shooters that need group tactics and players to work together; the coveted 18-34 has grown up with games, with consoles, with computers, WITH TECHNOLOGY. Why would it be different for women than for men?

So yes, this is 1) interesting and 2) useful and even 3) a great start of a conversation, but it shouldn’t be surprising anymore.

Now if you excuse me, my husband has started Diablo III on the PlayStation without me, and I want to play! And then I’m streaming Season 3 of Star Wars: The Clone Wars on Netflix because I only own seasons 1 & 2. Viva la difference!