CorpComms Magazine

Men and women are very different social animals, preferring different sites and approaching them differently, according to research compiled by digital analyst BrianSolis.com and a study by women's online forums BlogHer and iVillage.

Women significantly outnumber men on most profile-based, photo-sharing and discussion forums such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Bebo and Flickr. Men meanwhile comprise the majority of users on more content or status-orientated networks such as Digg, YouTube and LinkedIn.

Gender also appears to influence what a person seeks to gain from social media tools. Women are more interested in connecting with other users by sharing personal information, with three quarters using online communities to keep in touch with friends and family and 68 per cent using them to 'connect with others like me'.

The hunter-gathering males are more interested in ingesting information. Twenty per cent more men than women visit video network YouTube every week, a site notably geared more to consuming media than engaging in conversation. They also seek to advance their status online, with men proving far more active bloggers and focusing a greater proportion of their output on business and career.

Advertisers are beginning to harness these differences to created better-targeted marketing campaigns. Fashion and cosmetics companies, like Urban Outfitters and Sephora are increasingly focusing their social media campaigns on sites like Facebook, whilst car and video game manufacturers, such as Hyundai and EA Games are reaching out to men with viral video offerings.

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