Women Do More Social Networking

July 28, 2010

Social networking sites reach a higher percentage of women than men globally, according to a new study from comScore.

More Women Visit Social Networks, Spend More Time
“How Women Are Shaping the Internet” indicates 75.8% of all women online visited a social networking site in May 2010, compared to 69.7% of men. Globally, women demonstrate higher levels of engagement with social networking sites than men. Although women account for 47.9% of total unique visitors to the social networking category, they consume 57% of pages and account for nearly 57% of total minutes spent on these sites.

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Women spend significantly more time on social networking sites than men, with women averaging 5.5 hours per month compared to men’s four hours, demonstrating the strong engagement that women across the globe share with social sites.

Latin America, North America Display Strongest Social Networking Reach Among Women
Across each global region researched by comScore, social networking reached a higher percentage of women online than men. Social networking’s reach among women is highest in Latin America where it reached 94.1 percent of females online (and the highest reach among males online, 91.9%), and in North America where it reached 91% of females (and the second-highest reach among males, 87.5%).

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In Europe, 85.6% of the female online population and 80.6% of the male population visited a social networking site in May 2010. Meanwhile, in Asia Pacific, where parts of the region still face low broadband penetration and site restrictions, 54.9% of women and 50.7% of men visited a social networking site during the time period covered.

Interestingly, there appears to be a correlation between a region’s percentage of online females using social networks and its gender gap. The narrowest gender gap exists in Latin America, where the percentage of female social networkers is about 2.4% higher than the percentage of male social networkers. That gap rises to 3.8% in North America, 6.2% in Europe, and 8.3% in Asia Pacific.

Gays, Lesbians Active SocNet Users
In addition to gender gap, there also appears to be a gap between homosexuals and heterosexuals in social networking, at least in the US, according to a recent Harris Interactive survey.

Significantly, 55% of gay men and lesbians say they visit social network sites at least once a day, but only 41% of heterosexual adults report that same frequency. Three out of ten gay men and women also say they visit sites several times a day, while only 17% of heterosexuals share that habit.

Gays and lesbians also report higher incidences of visiting social network sites at least weekly (81% compared to 71% of heterosexuals). However, heterosexuals are more apt to visit social network sites at least monthly (17% compared to 11%) or less than monthly (12% compared to 8%).

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