14 DAY TRIAL // The masculinity of the web is shut off. An investigation made by eMarketer reveals that women outnumber men online in the US: about 97.2 million American women enter the net compared to 90.9 million American males. "There are absolutely more things women do online than men do," said eMarketer senior analyst Debra Aho Williamson. "Women are the supreme communicators and the Internet makes it easier for them to communicate and socialize. For example, women and girls make up the majority of the users on popular social-networking website MySpace while only 45 % of the audience at video-sharing website YouTube. Social networking, in general, is very big with women," she said. "Particularly young women interested in meeting people and talking with friends. It fits very well with the lifestyle."
The research found that 78 % of the American males employ Internet to watch video online while 66 % of the women do it. This could be linked to men' propensity to adopt faster new technologies and to pay more for greater access to high-capacity broadband Internet, necessary for data-rich video streams.
Women watching online videos are mostly interested in news, weather, music and movie clips. "Women are less likely than males to visit video websites and not drawn to "silly videos" such as those abounding on Google-owned YouTube," said Williamson.
Women are more likely to employ Internet for practical purposes than diversion. "Females, especially adult women, are more likely to use the Internet to get things done, rather than to have fun. Many adult women, busy juggling work with their relationships and child-caring responsibilities, don't have time to surf the Web for video", said Wiliamson.
As broadband connections turn ubiquitous and television shows are increasingly available on the Internet, more women could turn to watching video online. "Early data indicate that female teens are as enthusiastic as male teens about online video. The networks are well-positioned to drive greater female online video usage by offering more programming that appeals to females, particularly adults", said Wiliamson.
The research shows that women prefer to play online just "casual games," like computer versions of board, card or word games, over battle games preferred by men. 66.2 % of the American women over three years of age already use the Internet compared to 64.2 % of male counterparts. There are five million more women than men in the United States but "even within the populations of men and women you see more women than men using the Internet," Williamson said.