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Has Social Media Become a Boys’ Club?
By: Amber Morris | 04/01/2010
Recently, I was a panelist in a social media discussion with St. Louis Women in Media, a group of women communicators. During the conversation, the group's founder and interactive media guru, Melody Meiners, shared that she felt social media had evolved into a bit of a boys' club, even though some could argue women started the movement or at the very least, helped it gain momentum via blogging.
The "boys' club" notion hadn't occurred to me ... I guess because we're an office of mostly women who provide social media counsel to our clients on a regular basis. Also, many of the bloggers I know are women. In fact, in 2009, according to this cool social media profile tool on Forrester's Groundswell blog, men and women were nearly neck and neck when it came to being social media "creators." (Groundswell classifies "creators" as those who are blogging or uploading music, video or text.) In the 25- to 34-year-old age range, 36 percent of men are creators vs. 31 percent of women. The numbers drop slightly for those 35- to 44 years old, but the gap narrows a bit: 24 percent of men are creators, while 22 percent of women are.
Yet, as I thought about the "leading" social media consultants ... the ones we're following on Twitter and whose blogs we read religiously ... I can't even come up with a handful of women in that elite space.
I surrounded the word "leading" with quotes above because I wonder if women are a driving force in social media, but perhaps men are doing a better job of marketing themselves. Or perhaps we, as women, are a bit too modest to put a stake in the ground and declare ourselves experts.
What do you think (and I welcome opinions from both sides of the gender fence)? I'm also curious which women in social media you think are worth following.
Posted in Digital Communications
comments
Danielle says:
Fri, April 02, 2010 at 4:05:pm
Also, I wouldn’t say it is a marketing issue though- as in how we market ourselves. All the women I have ‘met’ through social media (yourself included at the STL Women in Media event) are smart, savvy women whose personal brands online speak for themselves. It might be an issue with the way things were done in the past. A lot of the big names in social media come from tech backgrounds. Most of the big tech/web people were guys (or at least it seemed that way… is this a cycle?).
Amber says:
Fri, April 02, 2010 at 5:01:pm
Thanks for the comments Danielle. I agree with you about St. Louis, although the past few events I’ve gone to have had more male attendees. And your point about tech is interesting ... I think having a good grasp on it is beneficial for social media consultants or counselor. I know the more tech-related things I learn and do, the more confident I am.
Beth von Behren says:
Sun, April 04, 2010 at 12:32:pm
Amber: I think you hit the proverbial nail on the head when you said men market themselves better. We have all been using and learning about social media at the same time, but somehow the men’s learning curve must have surpassed the women’s.
I have read studies, and my experience backs this up, that men are better at self promotion in every arena. Men ASSUME they can do something even when they can’t, and they say so in job interviews. Women are more honest in job interviews. Likewise, in this new Web 2.0 world, men have no problem asserting their expertise, while women are more honest about it: We are all experts.
Marijean says:
Wed, April 21, 2010 at 10:00:am
Amber, I can think of many well-respected women in the social media space; Beth Kanter, KD Paine, Charlene Li—but your point is taken when I see mostly white males on panels at conferences, publishing, educating. Men are more frequently entrepreneurs and largely, SM has been entrepreneurial. That’s one reason I like BlogHer and BlogHer for business (more great women: Lisa Stone, Elisa Camahort, Jory Des Jardins). In an all-female environment, people who may otherwise be intimidated and step back from a male-dominated space get a chance to shine.
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danielle says:
Fri, April 02, 2010 at 4:04:pm
I was at the St.Louis Women in Media event as well. The point that Melody brought up is one I keep finding myself coming back to. I woudl say the local thought leaders I follow in social media and marketing are a good mix between male and female, but on a bigger scale, the more well-known advocates for social media seem to be male.
I don’t have an answer for why that is, especially considering the monster-industry that is ‘mommy blogging.’ Perhaps that is part of the overall problem? Women bloggers are automatically labeled and ‘mommy’ bloggers or ‘family’ bloggers right off the bat. I’m not sure what you do to combat this stereotype- keep writing intelligent, discussion-provoking posts such as this one in order to ‘prove’ your worth I guess.