A former technological dunce in the age of Internet information, I have recently been coerced by a friend who works as a specialist of search engine optimization into participation in a number of social media forums.
My Internet visibility has since expanded from a simple Facebook profile.
Now I’m on social networks including LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and Pinterest.
I soon noticed a gender disparity in activity on each of these websites.
I realized this division was applicable to even my own levels of engagement on each of these forums.
I became deeply concerned by the division not only of the sites themselves but also in the quality of information exchanged in female-targeted social forums in relation to those geared toward male participation.
LinkedIn is a professional forum designed to connect members with potential employers.
It also allows means for business networking.
Profiles on this website are designed to promote the talents and experiences of the user and build an impression of the user as a valuable commodity.
Posting between members is focused on articles expanding upon entrepreneurship, innovation and expert creativity.
YouTube is a universally renowned video-blogging site.
These videos represent the entire realm of social media exchange from how-to guides, documentaries and political commentaries, to music videos and viral clips of funny cats.
The use of YouTube far exceeds this brief overview.
Its value as a communicative tool cannot be underestimated for spreading social ideas and contributing to popular culture.
According to an infographic on the Huffington Post, men maintain an edge for each of these forums with a relatively slight — but still significant — majority of 54 percent.
Twitter and Pinterest are the two popular forums that are largely dominated by women.
Twitter represents a 62 percent female majority, and Pinterest is overwhelmingly characterized by a 72 percent female membership, according to the graphic.
Twitter is characterized by its use of hashtags and a character limit of 140.
It is limiting in expression of critical thought.
It aims to evoke a quick emotional expression.
Pinterest is a site where members engage through an exchange of pictures.
The effectiveness of spreading information on this forum is based almost entirely on visual aesthetics, and personal commentary is often limited to very small captions.
Reddit is popularly considered the male version of Pinterest.
It has a 74 percent male lead, according to the graphic.
Though this webpage is far less visually appealing, it is vastly more informative and opinionated in nature.
Members post and rank a collection of trending stories, including a substantial amount of technological innovations, political opinions and world news headlines.
However, the site’s infamy for threads including lewd and offensive depictions of women continues to act as a deterrent to female participation.
That such a forum is considered comparable to a board dedicated largely to do-it-yourself home projects, fashion, health foods and feel-good stories strongly illustrates the part social media plays in defining and maintaining contemporary gender roles.
On the Internet, men still claim a large exclusivity on forums facilitating the exchange of political ideas and opinions.
This includes those that continue to objectify women.
Men dominate those in forums that shape our popular culture and that are most influential in the business world.
Women have no comparable sites for public influence.
They are instead encouraged to restrict their social expressions on the Web to emotions and projects of domestic life with limited critical insight.
The Web is often proclaimed as a social equalizer through freedom of thought.
The boundaries of social media exhibit the contrary.
They clearly appeal to target gender audiences.
They create a deliberate construct through which these groups interact.
Social media has become a contemporary instrument through which gender inequality continues to play.
Sarah Deatherage is a psychology senior at UF. You can contact her via opinions@alligator.org.
