Gender difference and Appeal in Social Networking Sites

o first off, a pretty busy weekend with a bit more alcohol than i would have asked for, but it was a blast. Friday was spent at 0bar with friends over drinks. I noticed that the girls were really camera trigger happy (I know, it’s a girl’s thing, guys just find it a little weird to be snapping at each other so happily). Don’t get me wrong, its not a bad thing, it’s a fantastic thing that females like to take pictures for memories and to carry on building stronger relationships with their friends. It was at that point of being still slightly sober that i got inspired for this post. Females are generally known to be the more social creature among humans. They articulate and share their thoughts and expressions better than guys can.

Amazingly, i remembered this study done and pulled it out (yes, on the same night after my 4th shot which was a damn 151) The study which compared the differences between men and women on social networking sites basically says that women spend more time building and nurturing relationships. while men just seek relationships.

So, what? Well, for starters, i think as a marketing or PR professional, this would be good news. We now know that females are more likely to share news, widget or apps with each other more than men. I would like to believe such a behavior to be universally true. David Eddings’ book had a statement that went something like “the bond between females transcends political, religious or racial discriminations…” (But I can’t be sure, it’s just so diverse in Asia).

From Michael’s post, we know China has a huge potential, especially in the 18-24 age group. Great news if I were to build a relationship between this age group of consumers and my brand. I wish there were gender differences in that study!

So to build relationships with your consumers, we know social networking sites are a good way to build relationships. But what products would be more appealing? Would a company selling men’s shaving products do well compared to a female’s facial products company using a social networking site?As I’ve mentioned, 28 people in your Friendster group is not a success, its a laughable joke.

There are other medium besides social networking sites in social Media. How about second life, or MYRL. From this post, it would be interesting to note that females can account for quite a high number of being early adopters to social sites.

So are females easier to target to spread the message through social networking sites? I think it boils down to 3 factors. Firstly, the target audience (duh…). Secondly, the content and purpose of the message and lastly the level of possible interaction on the social networking site between your brand and the targeted consumers.

If any1 has got any interesting and successful gender specific communications or marketing campaigns to share, please do so!!!

For the next post, I’m going to attempt to show one particular growing industry in Singapore which can not only use more of social media, but can bypass the cultural barriers that might be present when importing ideas from the west! Stay tuned!!