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Is Mobile Social Media Making Women Geeks?

Written by - 51 Comments
Categories: Mobile, Social Media

Early last year at a dinner party on the other side of our street I was chatting with a newly made best friend as you do after a few social glasses of wine, about how fantastic it would be to hold a street Christmas party so we could make social acquaintance with our neighbours in our immediate radius. I told him that it would be easy to organize, as my partner is an event executive and was excellent at organizing and facilitating major events.. like a street party! She overheard me and consequently proceeded to tell me that we were on our own, but I had an evil plan.

Social Media Women Geeks and Mobiles iPhones

Fast forward a couple of months later and as planned, our street party committee meetings were being chaired by the event expert.. also known as a thought leader in the social media space.

At the first meeting the number of iPhones were counted on a single finger but as each committee meeting unfolded the numbers of iPhones proceeded to increase until eventually every member of the committee had in their possession an Apple iPhone in their clammy hand.. or purse. At each meeting talk would turn to what app had they downloaded and questions were asked such as, could you view Facebook easily, how was it to tweet or view a blog, or even watch a YouTube video. Discussion has now even turned to syncing and skyping and that is just the women talking.

I remember being at a restuarant one evening and while waiting to pay the bill, I proceeded to count how many tables had groups of women, who were together with their female friends for a night out just having a chat and socializing and as I added up the numbers there were about 2 tables of male friends compared to 30 plus for the ladies. Social media suits the the female psyche as women love to socialize and share their thoughts, feelings and recommendations much more than the male of the species.  The statistics show that the fastest growing segment on Facebook are women between 45 and 55 which is not surprising.

Facebook Social Media and Mobiles

Comscore who are one of the leaders in facts, figures and statistics in the technology industry have released a new study that reveals how fast the use of social media is expanding on mobile platforms like smartphones and including the Apple iPhone.

  • 30.8 percent of smartphone users accessed social networking sites via their mobile browser in January 2010, this is up 37% from the same time last year
  • Access to Facebook via mobile browser grew 112 percent in the past year, while Twitter experienced a 347-percent jump
  • In January 2010, 11.1 percent of all mobile phone users accessed a social networking site via a mobile browser
  • In January 2010, 25.1 million mobile users accessed Facebook via their mobile browser, up 112 percent from the previous year
  • MySpace attracted 11.4 million users, approximately half that of Facebook
  • Twitter attracted 4.7 million mobile users in January, up 347 percent versus year ago

Social Media Twitter iPhone Mobile

Mark Donovan, comScore senior vice president of mobile says

“Social media is a natural sweet spot for mobile since mobile devices are at the center of how people communicate with their circle of friends, whether by phone, text, email, or, increasingly, accessing social networking sites via a mobile browser.”

So the growth of the use of Social Media on Mobile will continue to grow in the near future as people become more familiar, experienced and involved with their social media channel of choice and their iPhone.

The challenge and the implications for marketers, is how to assist brands to use that channel and platforms to connect and engage with customers with creative and efficient social media marketing campaigns.

So does the female of our species, in your home, have an obsession for her iPhone … and her social media? Love to hear your thoughts.


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  • http://facebook.com/marismith Mari Smith

    Oh yes!!! This female is joined at the hip to her iPhone and can’t live without social media!! LOL.

    Great article, Jeff!! Love the stats. :)

    @marismith

  • http://kathysgardenandart.blogspot.com/ Kathy Green

    This doesn’t surprise me at all. I’ll go a step farther and say thatt I bet women in business are using Twitter as much or more than men. Yeah, I know you guys don’t think women can say anything in 140 characters but when we have to we can get right to the point! A huge part of my day job is spent on the company’s Twitter, Youtube, blogging and Facebook accounts. We have tracked our sales via these media networks and it is astounding.

  • http://mobienthusiast.mobi Holly @mobienthusiast

    Great article, Jeff, and yes! Some of us started out as female geeks and now have the pleasure of bringing our friends along for the ride.

  • http://manamica.com Mana aka @manamica

    Love the post! It’s a yes for me too. I’m the early adopter in our household. I have a hypothesis – social media on mobile devices is like crafting. Women have always been good at piecing things together and creating much with nothing. I’m not saying it’s innate, it may cultural, I don’t know. However, putting together the social media pieces may be like crafting for certain women. So maybe women always had the inner-geek, it’s just that social media is making the inner-geek more visible. Just a thought :)

  • http://www.cynthiamedina.net Cynthia Medina

    Yup! This female is addicted to her iPhone and I don’t know what I would do without it, and don’t even get me started on apps.

    Great article, thanks

  • http://notjustagranny.wordpress.com notjustagranny

    Of course your heading immediately caught my eye and I just had to read this article. As one of the Baby Boomer generation I had my first experience of a computer in my late twenties. I did not get a mobile phone till I was 47! and then only out of necessity to keep in touch with my daughter who was in the USA. Since then, I am pleased to say that I have progressed so far as to be able to teach my daughter a thing or two about the internet and all the wonderful new apps we have.
    social media platforms are a great way to communicate of which twitter is my ultimate favourite. I was born to tweet :)
    Thanks for great articles, they are always of interest.
    Cindy
    @notjustagranny

  • Maggie Holley

    Yup..Guilty..

    I am still getting to know my way around the ‘toy’- but I love it( except for reception in country areas sucks!)
    I am a former ‘techno dinosaur’ that is out of her box…. and into IM, Affiliate marketing, Social Media, blogging..
    Hell.. just Learning in general!

    Trying not to want an iPad too much as well now…. ;-)

    Thanks for the breakdown stats Jeff..Very cool!

  • http://lyndit.com Lyndi

    I think that mobile and social media has attracted a lot of women to crossing over to the geeky side. Love my Crackberry Blackberry… excuse me.

  • http://www.linkedin.com/in/jfavreau jamiefavreau

    Great article. I agree I use my mobile phone for access to the networks as well. I don’t have a blackberry or iphone but I do complain when the app isn’t working up to its potential.

    I use social networks to crowd source information which is typically hockey and NHL related. Go figure!! I love it and I think that is why I want to go into sports marketing.

  • http://www.GlutenFreeDee.com GlutenFreeDee

    I’m a CrackBerry Woman Jeff, just like Lyndi! I do find it humorous when people think I’m technical~especially the under 30 crowd for whom I serve as a guide thru Twitterland! I am willing to endure the technology to be connected to so many amazing people. I really appreciate your great leadership and direction in this area Jeff! The stats are great!

    @GlutenFreeDee
    @DeeValdez

  • http://www.stephaniewonderlin.com Stephanie Wonderlin

    Well Jeff, I think you know me by now – Social Media and I are life-long friends! ;-) Videos, blogging, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube – I’m THERE!! Thanks again for such a great post – love all the stats!!

    @swonderlin

  • http://katetheprofessional.wordpress.com kate

    I am one of the females in my house. I got to this article from Twitter for Blackberry. Beyond that, I’m a social media marketer.

    Does that answer your question?

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  • http://www.engagethem.com Kathy

    Hey now… I was a geek before social media was cool… I think social media is such a great fit with women because it harnesses what we love best – sharing opinions and building relationships. So maybe it didn’t make us geeks, it just gave us the opportunity to build our successes on something we already love. Regardless of what came first – the chicken or the egg – the field is wide open to both genders in a way that a many industries are not. We’ve all got to love that.

  • http://www.womanzworld.com Natalie Sisson

    I’m definitely addicted to my iPhone and I believe it’s made me even geekier as it’s exposed me to a ton of applications that I use for myself and my business.

    Given our inherently social nature and our ability to connect I believe Social Media combined with Mobile is actually meant for women to devour and use effectively.

  • http://kbkmarketingandconsulting.com Jan Beery

    Getting my Iphone in December when my blackberry contract is up! Can’t wait!
    Of course women would be leading the way in social media! We are relational and as such, love love love to communicate, interact, problem solve, share and grow.
    We are amazing creatures aren’t we?!

  • http://companies.to/jelliottmarketing JC Elliott

    Absolutely I have an obsession with my iPhone and social media! My nickname, JC, stands for Jennifer Cellular, a name I proudly claim since my co-workers at Cellular One/McCaw Communications in the late 1980′s tagged me with. I was a geek from early on and embraced technology and called it my own.

    I now run my own social media focused marketing firm and spend much time talking to others about their favorite mobile apps, listening to those who are experts in the marketspace, and helping clients understand the breadth of social media in promoting their business. This brave new world of social media allows we small business owners to have companies that weren’t possible even 5 years ago. Life is grand! Technology ROCKS!

    Women are social. We love our community. What better match than to have that community from the safety of our mobile phones and then moving it into the real world once we know it’s safe?

  • suzisart

    You are so right. Our cerebral cortex enables this type of function more readily than for men. Nice stats. This is excellent continuing ed!

    Sadly, I have to struggle with a Blackberry as opposed to an iPhone. Somehow, I manage.

  • http://n/a kato

    I resisted an iPhone and went for my HTC Desire….. I agree with you Jeff, it’s nice to know I’m normal by work collegues think I’m a geek freak:-)

  • Leila Ergo

    I have an iPhone and use social networks because of my job.
    Gradually you become a geek if you work in technology or the Internet, you have no choice!
    Being a geek woman makes me feel part of a world that was intended only for men until not long ago.
    Here you can see what I’m talking about: http://www.itangelo.com/company/about-us/
    However, nothing beats a face to face chat with your friends.
    Thanks Jeff!!

  • Tarah

    Brilliant way to look at things Jeff. I hadn’t even takeninto the account a woman’s natural tendency toward socializing. Makes me maybe not so much has changed from the days of old. We just use a different medium.

  • http://twitter.com/socialamateur Melissa Reyes

    I’m a social media geek! I have a Droid (for now), and between that, my iPad, my PC and my Mac, I’m always connected somehow. Once you really get into it, it is hard to imagine life without it all.

  • Hperso

    Obsession with organising, sharing and chatting!  A girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do!  And if it’s social media and the iPhone that make that easy, then yeah!  We’re obsessed… until the next big thing comes along to make it EVEN easier.  Coz, we’re fickle, too ;)

  • http://www.contentequalsmoney.com Emma Richardson

    You bring up an interesting point, in that the presence of mobile media as connected to social outlets is probably what sustained companies like Facebook and Twitter. Had MySpace ever been able to jump on the mobile bandwagon before things really took off, it might have still stuck around as a continued part of the conversation, how ever many years later. 

    That said, I’m a lady and I’m pretty much attached at the thumbs to my crackberry, which will soon be transforming into an iPhone. (One hopes…)

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  • http://sebasilver.wordpress.com/ Ruth Seba

    Interesting, I am often amazed to look around the restaurant and see the number of mobile phones on tables. Suitable for a business meeting but an interesting way to ‘socialise’. I wonder if I am turning into a geek?! Starting a new business in a foreign culture I find myself investigating and using social media more than I ever imagined. Interesting how the world can change in a few short years.  No iphone yet, but wouldn’t say no if someone offered me one.

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  • http://twitter.com/ashlaurenperez Ashley Lauren Perez

    I’m pretty sure my fiance is ready to kill me because of how much I’m on my iPhone. I have apps for all my social media: twitter, facebook, Linkedin, wordpress, etc… I love to be connected and get real time feedback/comments and respond to everyone I can. Sadly, I cannot go a few minutes without checking my messages. Gotta stay connected!

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  • http://twitter.com/scootsocial Laurel Simon

    Not sure I’d consider us social media/iPhone lovers geeks but mor as organized women! We are by nature serious multi-taskers and need to enlist every resource available. iPhone gives this to me and more.
    I recently had lunch with a girlfriend and I was going on and on about my new apps. She looked at me with glazed eyes and said, “what’s an app”? As you can imagine, I don’t know if I can be friends with her any longer J (Okay maybe I’m an addict?)

    • http://jeffbullas.com Jeff Bullas

      Some of us are addicts and others aren’t and haven’t got with the program :)

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  • http://twitter.com/_fabval Fabio Valeri

    In certain ways maybe, but on the other hand social media and new mobile devices are designed for everybody not just for geeks.