Well, the answer to that question (posed in the title of this post) is... we do everything online. And, no, I'm not going to go into the reality of what 'everything' means. But, I am going to get into some specifics, with great citation gleaned at Blogher, last week, and other rescources.
It's been mentioned before, and likely on this blog, that women outnumber men online. According to a recent report at eMarketer, "In 2008, 100.4 million females and 93.5 million males will go online at least once a month... In 2012," they say, "females will outnumber males online by more than 8 million."
Yes, those numbers are partly due to the fact that there are more women than men in the U.S. But, the stats also reveal that the numbers are being driven by teenage girls. Discussing the Internet usage of teens requires a more detailed post, sometime...for now, let's look at how MY generation does the Internet.
Over at the new Boomer Blog you can read all about MY generation and how we're getting younger all the time. Oh yes, the boomers of yesteryear refuse to grow old - after all, we invented the "don't trust anyone over 30" mantra, and we're keeping it. Except, now it's "don't trust anyone ... who doesn't blog."
Maybe that's wishful thinking on my part, but I don't think so.
I think the women of the boomer years are hopping on the net more and more (a study done by FH Boom and the National Marketing Institute says, "76% [of boomers] will be using technology to stay connected with family and friends," ... a study which includes men, of course. Furthermore, the study reveals that, "...the Baby Boomer generation, which has a reputation for acting from dissatisfaction with the status quo, now perceives itself as being on track to unprecedented levels of satisfaction..." Whoohoo! That's me, all right!
Well, that's not all. Blogher did a study of women (all women, but I always favor the boomers, and think we're the majority - mind you, I don't have stats for that, just gut instinct), and social media and here are some of their results...
36.2 million women actively participate in the blogosphere every week (15.1 publishing, 21.1 reading and commenting)
Women are so passionate about blogging that (according to the Blogher study, done with Compass Partners) a big bunch of'em said they... "would give up alcohol, to blog (55%); give up their PDAs (50%); give up their i-POD (42%); and give up reading the newspaper or magazines (43%)." But, only 20% would give up chocolate.
In the end, women are using the net to do what we've always done - talk to each other, build relationships, share stories and information, and keep track of our kids. This can't be news to you. What might be news is that more and more boomer women are finding the net a valuable resource for meet-ups with each other.
The Gen Ys and Gen Xers already know this. They're tech savvy the way we were phone savvy, back in the day (when our parents were sure all that talking on the phone was going to give us brain cancer). But, my generation, my gals, the go-green gals, the "I'm not gonna take your flak anymore" gals, we're discovering a whole new playground - with events and social gatherings that speak to us in our own language.
If you would sell to us (and, you would, wouldn't you?) it behooves you to hang out where we hang out, and be polite - wait to be invited into our circle.
After all, as the Boomer Blog says, and Blogher writers and participants say, blogs influence our purchasing decisions. Plus, we believe our best years are ahead of us. That means years and years of spending...on your products.
Think: retrolutionaries: "... retrolutionaries are the vast majority of Boomer-aged consumers who are aiming to get their monetary expenditures in better alignment with values formed at earlier stages in their lives. Think the 2016 version of Birkenstocks and VW in the 60's and 70's: living affordably, but with style."
A recent Pew study shows that -- with the exception of video creation -- teenage girls "dominate" (their word choice) the creation of content on social media sites. In the blogosphere alone, 35% of teenage girls blog compared to 20% of boys. I am surprised I haven't yet seen any articles or reports with predictions on how this trend will change the world of business and public discourse in the coming years.
Posted by: Kevin | April 12, 2008 at 09:42 AM
A very informational post about women and the Internet. Thank you.
Rita
I write a blog for boomer consumers called The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide at http://boomersurvive-thriveguide.typepad.com.
Posted by: Rita | April 11, 2008 at 03:46 AM