LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--MyLife.com™ (MyLife) today announced new findings from the 2012 Connecting and Communicating Online: State of Social Media study, conducted by Harris Interactive. Survey results reveal unique usage patterns between men and women’s online behavior, with women more likely to be a member of Facebook and to login more frequently between current male and female members. And, while men and women average the same number of email addresses, the study finds that women are also more likely to be checking their e-mail accounts more often.
“They say men are from Mars and women are from Venus, and clearly those different communication styles ring true online as well,” said Jeff Tinsley, CEO of MyLife. “Women are more afflicted with FOMO than men, reporting a greater fear of missing out on something important reported online and logging in more frequently to check both Facebook and their email accounts. And, while many social networks are as popular with men and women, they’re using them for different reasons.”
Bitten by the Facebook Bug
It’s no secret that Facebook is the leading social network, and it may be women who are responsible for more of the status updates in the newsfeed. Of online adults who are a member of at least one social networking site, women were more likely to belong to Facebook and also login more frequently.
- 95% of women surveyed belong to Facebook vs. 86% of men
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67% of women login to Facebook once a day or more as compared with 54%
of male Facebook members
- 21% of women login 2-3 times a day vs. 15% of men
- Only 13% of women say they login to Facebook less than once a week. One in five (20%) of men said the same
Battle of the Sexes
Men and women both average just under three email addresses per user (2.7 for men vs. 2.6 for women) but women are keeping a closer watch on their inbox, with more than 4 in 5 women checking their email daily.
-
83% of women check their primary email once a day or more vs. 75% of
men
- This goes up to 90% of females age 35-44 as compared with 85% of men the same age
What’d I Miss?
All that logging on and checking in may not necessarily make the fairer sex feel more connected. Women are more susceptible to have a fear of missing out (FOMO), and nearly one-half (47%) wish there was a solution to help them manage their multiple social networking profiles.
- 65% of women (vs. 59% of men) say they keep an eye on their social networking profiles because they don’t want to miss news or an important event or status update
- One quarter of female respondents (25%) said they typically visit or log-on to their social networking profiles when they wake up, before they check their email accounts. Only 18% of men report checking social networking profiles before e-mail
- 47% of women wish there was a solution to help them manage all their social networking profiles (vs. 40% of men)
King of the Overshare
Ladies may spend more time logging into Facebook but it isn’t the only social network that sees different usage patterns between the genders. Much has been made of Pinterest’s popularity with women, but it’s actually men who are more likely to share on the site.
- 44% of women use Pinterest mainly for consumption; guys are more likely to say they use the site primarily for sharing, 23% vs. just one in 10 women (10%)
- Women are more likely to be passive viewers when it comes to YouTube as well; more than two-thirds (68%) of women use the video site primarily for consumption vs. just over half (52%) of men
- Though women were as likely as men to have a Twitter account (24% vs. 23%), they were much less likely to check it frequently; 54% of women said they only visit the site about once a week compared with two-thirds of men (67%)
To learn more about the findings or to sign up for the MyLife social media dashboard for free, go to www.mylife.com. The MyLife mobile app is available on the iPhone and on Android.
About MyLife
MyLife.com™ is the one place you need to make valuable personal and professional connections, plus pull together your social and email communications to help simplify your life. Eliminating the need to visit multiple services, free members can manage communication across the most popular social networks and email accounts securely and conveniently on one simple dashboard. MyLife users can also easily control their profile presence across the Web, build and monitor one online identity including many profiles, and make personal and professional connections by searching over 700 million profiles, all in one place. With over 60 million users, and growing fast, MyLife is based in Los Angeles, CA. To view MyLife’s newest television spot, please visit http://youtu.be/LcOTV3i2DiY. More information can be found at http://www.mylife.com.
Survey Methodology
This survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Interactive on behalf of MyLife from July 13-17, 2012 among 2,037 adults ages 18 and older. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated. For complete survey methodology, including weighting variables and subgroup sample sizes, please contact Jennifer Conway, jennifer@dottedlinecomm.com, 978-463-0289.