Why don’t more women comment more on blogs…?
In the seven weeks since we launched the MarketingProfs Daily Fix, I’ve been reading a lot more blogs more closely. I’ve noticed an overwhelming number of male “commenters,” but far fewer female commenters. Evidence purely anecdotal, and from a single observer.
Just for kicks, I checked the Daily Fix blog logs. Since it launched several weeks ago, 447 comments have been left on 191 blog entries (posted by 33 authors) and on 647 news stories. Of those 447 comments, 50 were from me, so I eliminated them off the top, since… well, it’s my baby, so of course I’m extra chatty and involved.
That means that of the 397 remaining comments, about 134 were from women. I say “about,” because some judgment calls were involved: I based my unscientific research on the implied gender of a commenter’s first name, and there were a few gender-neutral names belonging to people I haven’t met.
Anyway, so far, 33.75 percent of the Daily Fix commenters are female and 66.25 percent are male–that’s a 1:1.96 ratio of male to female commenter, close enough to 1:2. In other words, two male commenters for every female commenter.
I know–so what? Well, there is a point to this.
My good friend and marketing-to-women consultant Andrea Learned, who writes for this blog as well as her own, has long said that women in general are less linear and more “connective.” In a recent blog post, she writes about the differences in how men and women shop online.
In part: “Women scan,” she writes. “Men Dig.” “Women expand the mission,” she says. “Men stick to the mission.”
So I’m wondering… if women are less linear, and blogs (and their billions of offshoots, side conversations, and tangential links) make them about as un-linear as content gets, why aren’t more women into them? And if women are so connective, and blogs are so connective, why wouldn’t women be chiming in more?
It’s possible that women are reading blogs but aren’t commenting on what they read. Or it’s possible, as my friend Mack says, that women are commenting in spades on some blogs (like Heather Armstrong’s dooce.com) but not on others.
But, in either case, why do blog comments appear to be dominated by men? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Ann,
Really interesting topic here. I have no idea why men might be inclined to comment more than women–or if that’s even true, but I’ll share some personal experience for what it’s worth.
I am intensely curious. I’ve wanted to blog for a long time–so when I finally got around to it, I dove right in. Actually, I think I’ve been a closet blogger for a long time. My friends at work always use to give me a hard time about all of the industry related emails I used to send out. Now I realize that I’m sharing my thoughts with the appropriate audience. That’s one of the great things about blogging. Connecting with like-minded folk all over the world as oppose to one office.
My wife does give me a hard time about all of this. But I tell her that we simply make different choices. She chooses to spend her down time following certain TV series ala Tivo. Me–I blog and keep up on current events. I have no idea what’s happening on LOST even though I feel out of the loop from time to time on modern pop culture. Guess that’s my personal choice though.
Great topic. Curious what folks have to say.
…. OK honey–I’ll be off the computer in a minute!
I don’t get it either Ann, but I am glad that you are doing your part to even out that ratio
Ann, I have the reverse deal. I usually get nothing BUT women commenting on my blog. Maybe it’s just my animal magnetism and purely feral sex appeal, but I don’t get too many men at all. Well, there’s Mack and those guys, but they only comment every once in a while when I’m not babbling on about American Idol.
But hey, what more could a woman ask than to be surrounded by a bunch of super-intelligent men?!
I think maybe it has to do with the blog’s subject matter. This blog is about advertising and business, which is very much a linear world, logical, and therefore appealing to men. Plus it’s traditionally been a male-dominated field. Perhaps if you blogged about how your 2 year old spit up on you, or about the next Carrie Underwood CD, women would be emotionally moved to post. My friend Kristin is sort of a mommy-blogger, and she’s got estrogen running all through her comments.
In other words, I don’t know.
If a business or parenting blog is one-sided and not really about open dialogue, it’s pretty easy to tell and probably not worth it to get involved. Women are going to be selective with where they spend their time. If the blog has a history of good conversatons, where people are constructively discussing an issue – you’ll see more meat and more participation (of men and women). The difference may be less in the topic (advertising biz vs. parenting, for example) than in how it is presented, and what the history of blog participation shows. (do you see the same 5 people making not-so-helpful comments or do you see a wider variety of people honestly contributing different thoughts throughout the posts…?)
Whatever the topic, women may be more likely to consider the worth (for themselves and for others) of participating before they chime in.
Interesting dialog here; similar to what we did discuss over on the Synergy blog during April…
What timing. I published an article on the same issue today:
http://www.pickledpolitics.com/archives/543
and
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/sunny_hundal/2006/05/men_v_women_in_the_blogosphere.html
Ann,
I’m so glad you did the hard math and it’s not just my imagination. A couple of thoughts; blogs feel more like broadcasts than really connecting, women don’t have as much invested in broadcasting and to Andrea’s point when they do it takes more time because they think about it more deeply. Frankly I think we just have more to do- unless its our baby.
Tim Worstall at Vivre Le Difference picks up the discussion here:
http://eqsq.com/vivreLaDifference/men-and-women-commenting-on-blogs.html
Thanks for the comments, all. I admit that I’m a little dismayed…I was half hoping that I’d get a bunch of comments telling me that I’m hopelessly out of touch…but, alas. Sigh.
Interesting that both Sunny and I wrote about the same topic on the same day, and that his experiences mirror my own. He charged that men comment more online simply because they embrace a good argument. Ultimately: “online arguments are simply old-fashioned penis size comparing exercises,” Sunny says.
The truth is I’d been wondering that myself, somewhere in the dark corners of my mind. I used to be on a few discussion lists that regularly got a little heated, and I thought that was definitely the case then. But maybe new platform — same dynamics…which is too bad, if that’s indeed the case.
P.S. Isn’t it a little ironic that the m:f ratio holds up even on THIS post? (This far, it’s 5 men, 2 women commenting, not including me.)
Ann
On commenting, I try to comment mostly when I have something to add to the conversation. Maybe some guys are using commenting as a way to keep score.
I read blogs by women and men and on a variety of topics.
This topic of blogging and women seems to be the hot topic right now. Robert Scoble has been writing a number of posts on it.
I originally started looking for blogs written by women because it happened that most of my clients are women. I more or less started with Andrea Learned and keep looking for fresh perspectives.
Have a good evening
Serge
Biz:
http://www.njconcierges.com
http://www.montclairconcierges.com
Blog:
http://www.sergetheconcierge.com
I wonder whether men more than women read blogs, and so the 2:1 male-to-female ratio of commenters merely reflects the blog audience–or, more specifically, perhaps the audience of the DailyFix. Also, I wonder whether most people who leave comments might themselves be bloggers–and whether more men than women are bloggers. That seems to be the case for the DailyFix (more men bloggers than women); and if a significant number of commenters here are also DailyFix bloggers, that would also affect the ratio. Anyway, it would be interesting to see some demographic stats about the blogosphere…
Serge – You’re right: this topic is hot right now. Here’s Scoble’s latest:
Contra Costa Times looks at women bloggers
http://scobleizer.wordpress.com/2006/05/21/contra-costa-times-looks-at-women-bloggers/
He suggests, like Vahe, that there are simply fewer women bloggers than men bloggers. Might be true — of the 40-ish writers for this blog, for example, a mere 10 are women.
Well, Ann, you made an interesting idea to research. I’ll suggest to my professors at the faculty that some students try to make more “accurate” research.
You can also put it into “size” element of course.
On the other hand, I think posting on the internet has something to do with men and our “hunting” gens. It is the field we can explore and then bring our female partners to make family.
On the other hand, if you go to a forum about “healthy living” or “relationships”, the percentage might go different way? Perhaps we share the fields, where we go as “hunters” researching.
Well, if you wanted to make the point towards the way we shop online, I think there’s also a difference in shopping offline. Yes, I buy the first shoes I like and then go for a beer with my friend. Women go to 20 stores to buy, drink water on the way and chat by mobile.
Men go to pub and watch sports and talk about the game in the pub. Women watch TV series allone (or not) at home and then discuss it later with close circle of friends. They don’t even watch it at pub (not in my town:-)).
Hi again. I was just reading another (http://www.marketingprofs.com/6/whitesel3.asp) article about women and started to wonder – what’s all this fuzz arround it?
Is the group “basketball” less important or mysterious? Or the group “rock”? Or the group “young-children-parent”?
I just got the feeling we are talking a lot about specific group (ok, that perhaps spends more), but only because group’s name is “women”. That still does not mean that you are all the same? And that every product can fit your group in general.
I might be wrong.
I am woman, hear me roar!
No clue about why more women are not blogging and frankly, I don’t care. And I am NOT having a bad day.
Thanks for raising the issue though Ann. You sure know how to bring out the best (worst?) in all of us!
Warm regards,
Laurel
I checked my blog logs too, and I also have significantly more men than women commenting on my blog and tracking back to it.
You do need to be a little geeky to blog, and I think that intimidates a lot of women. But I lack the technical gene and I write two blogs.
I don’t know the answer to your question or even if your assessment is correct. Perhaps women are too busy multi-tasking to blog as often as men do. I just recently started blogging and will encourage my female business owner friends to do the same.
I’m intrigued by JD’s belief that women can only get interested in toddler spit up and Carrie Underwood, however. Where has JD been for the last 20 years? Women are not only prominent in the advertising and business world, but are influential thought leaders who get the job done.
Oh, and these are a few influential, female-run powerblogs, off the top of my head.
WonderBranding
Escape from Cubicle Nation
BlogWrite for CEOs
What is Your Brand Mantra
“WE” women are often described as more participatory conversationalists. Not always. It seems to me that men often sit back, listen, then comment. Women appear to dive right into the conversation (perhaps we are uncomfortable with the silence before the answer comes). At least that’s the way it goes in university classes; but in high school classes, the guys are the gabby ones, the more animated ones. Women have been known to tell men that they need to focus and listen to us. Really… (pause). Maybe we need to listen to them. Actually, I think it’s really a matter of the situation, thus, “it depends”. As far as men commenting more online…maybe women weren’t aware of the opportunity. As more find out (and I’m telling my friends and colleagues), look out…we have a lot to say. See: blogger.com (Change has changed)
I think it depends where you hang out online. The majority of the blogs I read (and comment on) are written by women. We support each other and our real and blogger friends tend to visit (and commment) on the blogs that we frequent. It feels like a community of sorts. I admit that I read a lot of blogs where I don’t comment. But I think that is a lot about whether I’m there to learn or to participate. If I have nothing to add and my comment would just be, “neato, thanks” then I often don’t. I have no idea if I’m typical.
Great food for thought – thanks!
Ann – maybe all us women who work in marketing are too busy multi-tasking doing 20 other things to be posting comments on blogs….
I agree with Wendy (May 26th comment) – I read a lot but don’t comment, if I don’t have anything different or useful to say, I tend to shut up. There are plenty of folks who I work with producing excess words – I don’t feel the need to add to the noise.
But here’s the thing – reading your blog has made me actually write a comment, not something I do a lot. Reading the comments on your blog there are a number of them talk about community, maybe we just need to be more explicit about inviting folks to join the gang?
Interesting topic. I don’t really buy things about women being inherently one way and men another. I wonder, though if a lot of the women in the segment you describe might have kids and intense jobs and difficulty participating in things like blogs given a time shortage.
I think the correct question is “why aren’t women posting on marketingprofs blog?”. If you look at the exploding number of mommy blogs or celebrity blogs — women are all over those. Is your readership mostly men? This is what I would ponder. Statically speaking, you may be getting a proportionate number of women and men posting based on your readership.
I find this topic quite interesting, and now I feel on the spot to produce an insightful and original comment to prove that women who comment on blogs can and do provide a lot of value to the online community.
My blog is coming up on its second anniversary and I’ve noticed the same trend with more comments from men than women. I’m always intrigued by the insightful and thoughtful dialogues from men on my blog, which has more of a “soft” topic matter than many men in my worklife might be interested in, so I’m grateful for that feedback. I’m very encouraged by those statistics, whether or not they’re skewed in any way, because to me it proves that men are indeed interested in personal awareness and effectiveness as it relates to personal leadership, accountability and growth.
Maybe I’m still reeling from the comments I got from my last (male) boss before I struck out on my own as a “soul” proprietor in my coaching and training business. He’s the one who told me that what I did as a leadership trainer for our manufacturing consulting business was “touchy-feely crap that makes me puke.”
That certainly is an isolated comment not meant to reflect a gender bias toward leadership issues any more than I think former comments here meant to put a bias on comments about spit-up.
I KNOW people of both genders are ready for non-gender-specific conversation and blogging – regardless of the gender of the blogger – is a GREAT way to connect!
Ann,
It’s an interesting question, but one I hadn’t given any thought to other than now, so bear with me as I try…
The blog landscape in business is dominated by men. That’s not a bad thing, but it’s a fact. I’d guess about 70% of the top business blogs are written by men. Would that make me less likely to comment? Perhaps.
Then there is the fact that typically men are more likely to forcefully express an opinion and not be afraid of what anyone else thinks about them than women are. Not all women for sure, but some. So do they just jump into the fray or read and move on?
And of course there’s the multi-tasking stuff that Ann and Monica mention. I think this is probably a key part of it.
I as well am starting to invite other female friends and colleagues to participate, so maybe the balance will come in the next few years.
I’ve often responded to blogs if I have something novel and/or constructive to say.
I’ve also emailed the blogger directly to develop that 1-2-1 connection.
My personal favorites are mil-blogs, oddly enough. I’d rather get the Iraq/Afghanistan news directly from the men and women on the front, than from the nightly news, papers, or other periodical.
Generally, you’ll also find men are more open toward communicating on message boards and blogs, perhaps just because they are still more computer literate than women (although the gap is closing). My experience is that many women tend to stick close to the email, and go no further.
I can only speak for myself, not for the many other women out there. This blog did catch my eye, usually I scan the first paragraph and move on. I have too many other things to do (family, job, charities) then to spend hours reading blogs on the computer, and commenting on them. They are very helpful when I am doing research, otherwise I leave them alone. Have you had a chance to do any research on the age of the bloggers?
46 and counting . . .
I have a couple of thoughts
1. I do read blogs occasionally, but by the time I get there someone has usually already given the same, or a very similar answer to what I’ve said, so I don’t post because my comment would be redundant. Could it be that women read the full string of comments more often than men before sharing an opinion? (And this time I *didn’t* read all the posts before I previewed mine, and I see I *am* being redundant with the other responses – but I’ll let it go as giving you a head count this time.)
2. I know better than to get started – there’s no doubt that blogs are interesting to me, both in the content from business problems to postsecret to raising kids to political rants and watching the human interaction, but I realize I could spend hours reading & commenting. At this point in my career I can’t let myself get started even if there’s a chance I’ll learn something very useful – another project will get behind schedule while I’m in-depth reading. Is it possible that men skim more than women, thus don’t get so drawn in to the scene?
And like most people around the blogging phenomenon, I started my own blog – but I don’t post to it often either, it’s really just a gallery to keep my brother up to date on my quilting projects because he lives to far away to see what I’m working on in person. Why do I even keep that up? Just for the connection to him. So maybe blogs are a guy thing after all…
Maybe women are just too busy to be spending time on blogs after work and, unless it is part of your job, it is probably not a great idea to be doing it during work hours. When I go home after spending all day at my computer, the last thing I want to do is spend time glued to a screen. To relax I like to READ BOOKS and listen to music from a proper sound system. Maybe more women are inclined this way. After all, it is an established fact that most online gamers are male so maybe the same principles apply.
Very simple….as a 40ish women who has a career, kids, house (and husband) to manage, don’t have time to hang out and read blogs. Any little “free” time i might have is NOT going to be spent on the computer unless of course it is for shopping!
I wonder what the male/female ratio is on call-in radio. I bet it’s similar, maybe because it’s not an engaging or intimate enough form of communication. Or maybe because so there’s so much posturing involved that it’s just not worth it. (Present company excepted, of course.)
But as the previous writer said: here I am responding. Is that because I actually value this venue, … because the question hit home … or a happy combination of both?
I tend to be very selective about the blogs I use, and my interests are usually in solving a particular problem. So it’s more reaching out at that point. Maybe I’m missing something, huh?
This is my first post to a blog in about 5 years. I suspect I may be the type of woman about whom all you bloggers are speculating.
Several of you hit the nail on the head. As a small business owner and mother of school-age children, I am far too busy either (a) doing actual work or (b) taking care of kids or (c) doing laundry or (d) three or four of 100 other things on my “to do” list to take time to find the blogs, read the blogs and post comments on the blogs. I tend to be more “answers-oriented” when it comes to blogs — I only get on when I need to read others’ opinions on an issue, whether it’s marketing, advertising, business, breast cancer, parenting or other. Then I form my own opinion and deal with the situation as appropriate. I have many male friends who have nothing to do except blog while their wives clean up the kitchen and get the kids to bed. I would guess that’s why you have more men than women.
My networking with colleagues tends to happen face-to-face, another thing that’s particularly important to the women I know.
See you in another five years!
I agree with Monica that perhaps women are just too busy multi-tasking to post. [For example, I'm a mid-30s marketing professional working at a pretty demanding full-time job and enrolled in a pretty demanding MBA program part-time.] A straw poll this morning indicates most of the women I work with are just as busy, and we just don’t have time to engage in the on-going debates generated in blogs, however interesting they appear to be.
Still, I do read a variety of blogs written by both women and men on a variety of topics, and will more than likely begin to blog when I have more time. Ann Hosford was right, Ann: your comments intrigued me enough to post. But, it’s likely I won’t post on another blog until at least the MBA is done.
Ann,
As a woman in a leading marketing roll, I don’t have time to respond to blogs. I liken it to playing video games entertaining but really a waste of time.
Granted there are exceptions where a strong comment is worth the effort. Yet, I have never had a client thank me for taking the time to blog.
Why was I motivated to comment on this blog? Simple – I didn’t want the squeaky wheels to get the grease without understanding why they were getting it.
Melissa Kunde
Ann –
I hate to say this but I think some men have an innate need to make everyone listen to everything they want to say where women have learned the art of introspection and only sharing those key, important nuggets. This might go contrary to the popular stereo-type of women being chatterboxes — but then again look at who proliferates that stereotype in real life. That’s right…chatty men.
Hi Ann,
I think for the most part women only comment when there’s an actual reason to do so. Men in general like the more intense dicussion and often are more likely to go around telling their position. Women comment on thing like what is the best makeup because they can get something back from the comments of others. (Not the perfect example, perhaps comments about the best web analytics software, etc.) When the comments are just standing for my thought is better than yours because of …, women just don’t as much into it.
There’s always the possibility that many of the blogger replies are actually coming from females under a male pseudonym. Given the harassment women receive online (see http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12727877/ ), many choose to present themselves as male in forums where there are likely to be a lot of men participating. After all, unless it’s a dating site, does it really matter what gender a poster is?
I do read blogs (mostly at work), but am not usually compelled to comment. I generally only comment when I feel there is something of true value I have to add to the conversation (meaning I rarely ’second’ a previous comment). I am also a meticulous composer when it comes to sharing my thoughts, especially on industry/business blogs where I’m representing myself AND my agency. That said, I don’t always have time to compose a well thought out comment, so I weigh the importance of adding to the conversation in each case. Also, it might be worth noting that many times I arrive at a blog via a e-newsletter (or a link from an e-newsletter)…maybe throw some blog comments in the newsletter from time to time. Just a thought – I don’t know the legality of such a thing.
This feels really similar to the raising-your-hand-in-the-classroom studies they’ve conducted in sociology/anthropology. Feminist victories aside, I think that socialization plays a large role in blogs and other types of social networks. This is a really interesting study done published the BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/voices/yourvoice/classroom_talk.shtml
While this is a stereotypical conclusion, it’s interesting to see what they observed: In a study of children aged 2-5, parents interrupted their daughters more than their sons, and fathers were more likely to talk simultaneously with their children than mothers were. Jennifer Coates says: “It seems that fathers try to control conversation more than mothers… and both parents try to control conversation more with daughters than with sons. The implicit message to girls is that they are more interruptible and that their right to speak is less than that of boys.”
I was raised to always voice my opinion, which is probably why I’m a frequent blog-commenter, for better or for worse!
Ann,
It was just fascinating to see the predominance of men among the early responders to your post.
I wonder if women are more concerned about exposing their opinions in public. Perhaps there’s a concern that kooks will find us if we publish our opinions.
I belong to a mostly-women consortium of career consulting professionals (certified coaches, personal branding specialists, resume consultants, industry organization leaders, authors, etc.) who write a career advice blog for 100K+ execs. (http://www.careerhub.typepad.com).
As our group is composed of 12 women and only 1 man, we’re certainly a deviation from the norm you’ve found. A number of our writers have their own blogs as well, and the founder of CareerHub is a woman.
Thought you’d like to know that twelve more women are out there blogging!
Now that you’ve opened the topic, we’ll have to analyze how many women vs. men comment on our CareerHub posts…I’m curious…
Not everything one sees is worth the time it takes to comment. I have a great deal to do and never enough time to do it. I would love to chat, but don’t have the time. I comment only if I get wound up about a topic – that’s it. Guess I’m wound up!
Karen echoes my thoughts exactly. I am way too busy actually earning a living on the computer to spend much time looking at blogs, never mind responding to postings. Someone mentioned guys ‘keeping score’ – from Guy Kawasaki’s blog (one of the few I read regularly – through an email feed), I would say that comment is right on the money.
I started reading blogs because of my job – marketing software and services. Developers have blogged for a long time. I think women will get into blogging because it’s a creative outlet and can help them find or develop a community of people with similar interests. Blogs are fast. They don’t require paper, and you can, in many cases, add multimedia (photos, videos, audio recordings, animation) to a blog in one place.
When the newest tech gadgets are released, men buy. Women wait. They wait for kinks to be worked out and for the price to be more affordable, so they get the best value for their time and money. I think in time, women will see value in blogging and will jump on the bandwagon.
Hello Ann,
I cannot speak for all the women out there…but when I received the MarketingProfs newsletter and read your side comment on this topic I had to reply. I normally do not have the time at work to read blogs, let alone reply to blogs. And, unlike my husband, when I get home from being on the computer all day long the last thing I want to do is get back on the computer. In fact, I only check my personal email once or twice a week. Instead, I play with my 3 year old son or watch the news/shows on TV to relax. I am computered-out at work.
Ann,
It was just fascinating to see the predominance of men among the early responders to your post.
I wonder if women are more concerned about exposing their opinions in public. Perhaps there’s a concern that kooks will find us if we publish our opinions.
I would rather “talk” it out then “blog” it out. It’s faster and more efficient.
This is something I’ve observed as well. I’ve got two comments about it:
1. In business, there’s a saying that if you want something done, give it to a woman. We’re do-ers, and get job satisfaction in a job well done. That said, maybe we’re too busy to “waste our time” on blogs. Or, in my case, I spend so much time on the computer to work, I just don’t want to sit on my behind and read blogs when I have free time. That takes me to comment #2:
2. I believe women are more interactive than men. Men like to hold court, tell you what they think. But women want to discuss it — real time. I’d venture that a more proportional percentage of women use Windows Messenger or other online chats for that reason.
My two cents!
Leslie
Blogs are fundamentally linear, not networked as you suggest. Tagging itself is networked, but blogging is not. You create a list or stories that exist in a line on a page. Though you can connect the stories through tagging, the act of blogging and commenting is linear.
Perhaps this makes them unappealing and challenging to women. Or maybe we just don’t have anything to say about other people’s mental meanderings. If the issue is compelling and the writer is expressly asking for opinion or thoughts (as you can see from the list of women commenters within your blog) then women will likely take the time to comment.