Image via Complex Original
Sometimes, it seems like the differences between men and women are countless. We don't communicate in the same ways, we're interested in completely opposite things, and we can never seem to fully find that same wavelength to tune on. Everyone has run into that problem before, and for centuries now, we've been fed the line that men are from Mars and women are from Venus. But what about when it comes to Twitter? With the onset of the online age and social media, has anything really changed between guys and girls? Honestly, how many differences can be found in just 140 characters? And in a place like the Internet, where anyone can be anonymous, is it really possible to distinguish the two sexes? To show you that the gender divide is still real, we put together 10 ways that Men and Women Use Twitter Differently. The game may have changed, but the story is still the same.
Women use Twitter more than men.
Let's just start it off with a base fact here: Women are more active users of Twitter than men. A study in 2012 from Information Is Beatiful found that 62 percent of all Twitter users are women. Furthermore, separate research from HubSpot back in 2010 revealed that women have tweeted an average of 1,542 times compared to 698 for men. So women like to e-chirp more than men. But, comparatively, how are they doing it? Next slide, please.
Men are more likely to swear, and keep things short.
Look, as a general rule, guys are just cruder than girls. It may not be anything to be proud of, but it's definitely true. And you can be sure that this rule doesn't just exist in the real world; it has carried over to Twitter as well. In a recent study from researchers at Carnegie Mellon, Stanford and Georgia Tech, it was found that phrases like "bullshit, damn, dick, fuck, fucked, fucking, hell, pussy, shit, shitty" were more commonly associated with male Tweeters than their female counterparts. On top of that, these same researchers also found that—even on social media—dudes don't like to get too chatty. In comparison to women, who are more likely to lengthen their words (turning "yes" into "yess, yesss, yessss" or "no" in "nooo and noooo"), men just keep things short. Their favorite word? "Nah." Yeah, that sounds about right.
Girls are more likely to express emotions.
But how else to women differ in language when it comes to men? The same study by the Carnegie Mellon/Stanford/Georgia Tech team found that abbrevs, expressive punctuation, and "backchannel sounds like ah, hmmm, ugh, and gr" are decidedly more feminine in TweetSpeak. Why is that? It likely has to do with the fact that phrases like OMG or LOL are directly tied to emotional reactions. Gender generalization no. 2: women are better at expressing themselves emotionally than men. This isn't to say that all men are emotionally-underdeveloped or all women get too deep in their feelings. We're just extrapolating from the numbers here, people.
Women talk about each other.
Whether it's a retweet, a mention, or a favorite, women seem to enjoy interacting with each other more than men do in the Twitter-sphere. Research conducted by iVillage and BlogHer in 2010 corroborated this assumption, when it was found that "three-quarters of women use online communities to stay up to date with friends and family, and 68 percent of them use them to connect with 'others like me.'" With Twitter being one of the most common mediums for all social-media-savvy females, it stands to reason that their forum of choice is the one that limits them to 140 characters.
Men talk about themselves.
In a 2010 study from BrianSolis.com using Google Ad Planner, it was found that men were more interested in the self-promotion and content-related aspects of social media, and how they could use it as a means to improve their status. Yes, this lends itself to obvious examples like Kanye, but also think about comedians like Rob Delaney or Aziz Ansari, or any other men who have tried to use Twitter as a platform for bigger and better things. There's a good chance that you know at least a few people who, either explicity or implicity are trying to pump themselves up on Twitter, whether out of sheer ego or savvy business. Surprising or not, these people are usually guys.
Women are able to gain a larger following than men...
It should be noted that being more openly expressive certainly has its benefits for women. Call it karma, or whatever you like, but if you do good unto others on Twitter, they'll do good unto you, and that usually means a follow. In the aforementioned study by HubSpot, it was found that, on average, women have 1717 followers compared to 643 for men. Along with that, five of the top 10 currently most-followed on Twitter are women (three are men, two are companies) further illustrating the fairer sex's social media pull.
But men aren't as likely to follow other people in the first place.
When you're looking for members of #TeamFollowback, don't expect to see too many guys stepping up to the plate. Women are not only better at staying in touch with other people, and amassing a larger following, but also following people in the first place. More often than not, guys aren't the ones to make the first move in any follow-for-a-follow relationship, if ever making one at all. Anti-social much, dudes? Or maybe pride is keeping them from letting their "Following" count exceed the "Follower" one? Whatever the case, it's clear that guys prefer to keep their circles small on social media.
Men live-tweet sports.
Twitter has become a modern-day, real-time water cooler for sports fans everywhere. No longer do you have to wait around until work the next day to discuss all of last night's top plays. Today, you can just search something like #SCTop10, and you'll find yourself with pages of sportstalk and highlights to keep you engaged the whole night through. And yes, it's more than likely that the people you'll be talking to are going to be guys. Whether they're fans, pundits or professionals, the sports-sphere is dominated by dudes.
Women talk TV and celebs.
For a full minute-to-minute rundown of Scandal, Orange is the New Black, or whatever is most popular in TV at the moment, you're better off following one of your close girl friends than some random dude. The most you'll get from a guy? Usually something along the lines of "Damn...#BreakingBadFinale." And if you're searching around for some celebrity gossip, it's almost certain that women are going to be more up-to-date with what's good in Hollywood. Nikki Finke, Kari Mozena, and Stalker Sarah are just a few of the "in-the-know" ladies that rule the tabloids.
Women share more photos and videos than men.
Sharing is caring. Not only are women better at talking with one another via Twitter, but they're also more dynamic with the content that they spread to their followers. A Pew report compiled from 2008 to 2013 found that women were more likely to post their own photos and videos over the Internet than men. Yes, everyone, we're talking about selfies. Not only that, though, but the same study also showed that even more women shared photos and videos from outside sources as well. Whether it's on YouTube or straight from their iPhone, a woman's social media success has a lot to do with how well they're interacting with the rest of the Internet's resources.
