Social Media And the Battle of Men vs. Women

     While watching Johanna Blakley in her youtube clip, “Social media and the end of gender” I had mixed feelings about her stance on women and demographics in the media.  What’s wrong with my age demographic?  I kind of like the idea of a box that I fit into comfortably and are surrounded by all different kinds of people my own age.  But according to Blakley, the days of those kinds of demographics are over.  It’s no longer about what age group you fit in; it’s about what you choose to click on.  So instead of separating the digital population into age groups where anyone over 52 doesn’t even exist, I think social media has divided us up the old school way: boys vs. girls.

            Blakley believes social media has brought the end of gender differentiation in the media and I have to say I disagree.  From her presentation she showed how women have overtaken social networking and are the main representation of who fuels the social networking craze.  How would these sorts of findings represent an end to gender?  To me, it points to a very different conclusion, which there will be more of a gender divide and a marketing push to engage the women who social network on those sites.  For Example:

Facebook:  Facebook is a prime example, at first look, of a gender-neutral space.  The layout is plain and any opportunity to customize it is limited to ensure most pages look the same.  But Facebook has begun to understand who their main audience is and is making changes to accommodate them.  The new “timeline” layout allows a more customizable page in which women can make their space more personal and aesthetically pleasing.  The adds on the homepage are personalized by our facebook activity so the more time you spend on facebook, the more personal and relatable those ads will be.  This specifically targets the women who spend more time of facebook because those are the women whose ads will most likely associate with them best and result in a sale.

Twitter: Twitter satisfies the constant need to update and know what’s going on in other people’s lives without having to put much effort in.  I’m a woman and whether or not I like to admit it, the updates and whereabouts of my friends and those around me does interest me.  Twitter allows me to follow whomever I want without much notice and keep an update on them.  My cousin, a man, does not believe in Twitter or the use of it to update himself on people he doesn’t care about who he feels are “flaunting their lives to feel better about themselves”.  Does he have a point?  Yes.  But it doesn’t make me love Twitter any less.         

Blogging:  The blogging world has become a place that men can access but women have taken hold of and (seems like) will never let go.  Blogs are a place that women can find other women who are interested in the same things they are and relate to each other.  Women can talk and network with others on subjects that are important to their everyday lives.  Feeling like they are part of a group or something bigger than themselves is a state woman can understand and have a gravitation towards.  Men, obviously, can have blogs and are very present in the blogging world.  But the decoration and maintenance of the site, the pictures used, really the whole idea is focused on activities that women traditionally enjoy. 

Pintrist:  Pintrist is the perfect example of a site that may be gender neutral in set up but is focused on the women’s demographic.  A site that allows people to “pin” or save what they like as pictures and go back to it later seems neutral enough.  But when the biggest categories are crafts, home decoration and wedding ideas the main audience isn’t hard to pinpoint. 

Social networking caters to the type of people who want to feel connected, who want to feel liked, who want to feel like they are part of a group.  Women, traditionally, have been the leaders in all of these categories and therefore naturally will be the most satisfied with Social Networking sites.  The object of any business venture is to target the audience that will bring in the most revenue, in this case women.  Instead of downplaying the gender differences like Blakley thought, I feel that the Internet has realized who their largest audience is and moved towards catering to them.  Not only have the type of sites available started associating themselves more with women’s needs, but sites that have been up for awhile are starting to implement aspects that women like.  The male hasn’t been forgotten or disregarded in social networking, the woman is just more available and therefore targeted more specifically.