More UK Women Have Social Networking Profiles than Men

A recent eMarketer report revealed that women in the United Kingdom are more likely to have a social networking site profile than men. A study by the UK Office of Communications found that 42% of women had social networking profiles in 2009, compared to only 34% of men. The change is particularly drastic compared to 2007, when women and men were almost equal, at 22% and 21%, respectively. This is exciting news for the UK, where few women are online (79%) than men (84%). According to Karin von Adams, author of the eMarketer report, "Social networks are a primary channel for women online...According to data from Universal McCann, women's top activities on social networks in 2009 included managing their own profile." 

Indeed, content creation is the only online activity where women surpass men. The same UK Office of Communications study that, in a list of nine disparate activities, content creation was the only one where women (36%) were more likely to participate than men (28%).

UK Women's Online Activities

EMarketer recently released a report in conjunction with IPC Media about the online activities of women in the UK. According to the report, 74% of UK female Internet users went online on a daily basis in 2008, up from 71% in 2007. Women logged on more during the week but spent more time online during the weekends, spending an average of 20 more minutes per session.

The most popular activity among the women surveyed was shopping. 97% of respondents researched products online, and 92% purchased items online. Social networking sites were also ranked as a highly popular activity. 66% of respondents have visited Facebook and 41% have visited MySpace. The table below highlights the 2008 worldwide growth of Facebook, and its negative impact on other social networks, including MySpace and Bebo, which previously boasted a strong UK presence.

Senior Women Help Narrow UK Online Gender Gap

Although a projected 18.6 million women online in 2008, according to eMarketer, 19.5 million males were online, resulting in a 51.1 % male bias in the Internet population. Fortunately, that bias is expected to decrease to 50.5% by 2013. The narrowing gap is attributed mainly to the anticipated increase in Internet usage by women 55 and older.