There are key gender differences in how today’s digital natives interact online according to a new study.
The findings come from marketing and technology company Amaze’s ‘Generation study’, which looks at how 10 -15 year olds’ behaviour is evolving, particularly regarding their use of Facebook.
Surprisingly, whilst almost three quarters of the Amaze Generation currently uses Facebook, twice as many boys are using the platform than girls.
The boys also use it more regularly, with 70% of the boys using the social network every day, compared to only 40% of the girls.
Boys also seem to be more interested in expressing themselves online than girls, with boys being three times more likely to update their status.
The girls tend to be spectators more than contributors, preferring to ‘like’ rather than comment, and only update their Facebook status twice a week, on average, compared to the boys, who update their status daily.
With privacy and security a growing concerns for parents, it is reassuring that even though this
generation is fairly open to accepting new friends on Facebook; providing they have enough
mutual friends in common, they are much more aware of these issues than many give them credit for.
The Amaze Generation seem to take proactive steps to protect themselves by not sharing
their personal information online and also by changing their privacy settings from default so that
only friends can view their information.
Natalie Gross, Managing Partner at Amaze, commented, “Society’s behaviour is constantly
shaping and being shaped by technology. Therefore, our understanding of, and insight into this
evolving societal change is dependent not only on today’s knowledge, but also on an informed
vision of tomorrow.
“With the Amaze Generation set to be tomorrow’s society shapers we seek to understand how
tomorrow’s generation will communicate and shape future technology. The insight we gain through this unique study will provide a tool which will help us create the very best solutions for our clients.”
Additional gender differences are also apparent in the consumption of technology with girls
seeming to start using technology around a year and a half earlier than boys, which goes against the popular perceptions that boys are much more ‘techie’ than girls.
Other key insight from the second phase of the study include:
The majority of this generation is quite concerned with how they are perceived by others
online, and are keen not to be seen as being immature. Despite boys’ prolific use of
Facebook, they seem to be less concerned than the girls about how others view them on
the networking site.
This generation is very aware of how misunderstandings can be created when
communicating via Facebook, with 80% of the group believing it is either very or quite
easy for the meaning to be misinterpreted.
With the majority of this generation owning a mobile phone, Blackberry is still the clear
brand leader. This is primarily due to the BBM instant messenger app and the Facebook
update functionality, which sends a notification to the handset as soon as there is an
update on the user’s Facebook account.
Launched in Winter 2010/11, the five-year study has been closely following a group of 10-15 year olds to understand their digital selves and examine the way they interact with and are being
shaped by technology over time.
The full report, which includes the results from the baseline questionnaire and in-depth interviews of this up close and personal journey with today’s generation of digital natives, is available to download at http://www.amaze.com/amazegeneration/.
www.amaze.com