Linda Bonanno's Weblog

Well, this article in Business Week is interesting. It specifically talks about Twitter and how many followers people have and what gender those followers are. I was curious about this, but I had no preconceived notions of what the outcome should be. As I write this post I’m still trying to decide if I find it relevant or not, and if I do, why. We’ll see if I can come to a conclusion by the end.

Ok, the basics are that men have 15% more followers than women, but women are more prevalent on Twitter than men by a ratio of 55% to 45% (based on statistics gathered in May 2009).

“Even more interesting is who follows whom. We found that an average man is almost twice more likely to follow another man than a woman. Similarly, an average woman is 25% more likely to follow a man than a woman. Finally, an average man is 40% more likely to be followed by another man than by a woman. These results cannot be explained by different tweeting activity—both men and women tweet at the same rate.”

Why is this? Here’s my hypothesis. Looking at the people that I follow on Twitter (My ID on Twitter is lsbonanno) most of the men Tweet about business related topics. They use Twitter to promote their company, their product, and many times, themselves. They Tweet about technical topics too and provide interesting links to articles to read. These items tend to have a large audience – i.e. many people find the information relevant and useful. Most (not all) of the women that I follow Tweet about their personal lives and experiences. These are things that you’d share with friends and family and not a much larger audience typically. Could this be the key? Is it that women are using Twitter to stay connected and men are using Twitter as an extension of work – a way to market? I think it might be.

Something else that came up in this article is how women are the drivers in social networks. AH HA! YES! In the back of my mind I realized this. The people that I see most active on Facebook (but not so much LinkedIn – maybe for the same business reasons as above) are women. They post regular status updates, they update their pictures, they take the quizzes and send the beers, pillow fights, and easter eggs. The men are out there, but on a day to day basis they really are not that active. It’s funny, when they first come onto Facebook, they are very active – but within a few weeks it dwindles down to nothing. Not the ladies. Maybe it is my age group. Women in their 30s and 40s are the backbone of their families and the center of their day to day social networks – it makes sense for them to tackle this “chore” online as well.

Personally I find that I use social networks and Twitter for both business and personal. However, I do apply some boundaries to what I post where.

• LinkedIn – Business only.
• This blog – I’d say 80% business / technology related with a few lapses here and there (like the Twitter feed).
• Facebook – Personal only.
• Twitter – A combination of business and personal news.

I guess my conclusion is that in order for me to get more followers on Twitter I need to post more relevant Business/Technology links and topics there. Currently I read many many many articles that I would love to post some commentary about on this blog but I find that I just do not have the time. Maybe Twitter is the place to put those links and a short blurb about what makes them so interesting or entertaining!