XKCD Comic on Google Plus
A lot of people are writing about the recent big moves in social media. Google Plus just transitioned from invite-only to public beta, and Facebook just announced their first ever massive redesign at their recent f8 conference. I’ve been on Facebook for almost six years (wow!) and Google Plus for almost 90 days now. Google Plus is, obviously, different than Facebook. However, it has been difficult to pinpoint exactly how it is different. And then I ran across some gender statistics and it made me wonder if Google Plus was just a big, virtual man-cave!
Boys vs Girls
Back in July while Google Plus was still in beta the ratio of early adopters was about 86% male, 14% female. As of early September those numbers have started to shift, but it is still 67% male, 33% female. That’s a 2-to-1 ratio. This has a big impact on the posting content and interaction. [Insert your favorite gender-based jokes here...]
Nerds vs Normal People
Google Plus is also definitely nerdy. Google has a lot of apps out there, and a lot of people use them. However, most are geared toward the tech-savvy among us. Maps, Documents, Gmail, Calendar, Reader and the Chrome browser. Those of us with a background in high-tech fields or I.T. use these on a daily basis. Google Plus is a natural extension of this. And since the tech field is still largely male-dominated it is natural that the early Plus adopters skew largely to guys. Nerdy guys.
Addiction
Friends vs Strangers
One other thing that is definitely different about Google Plus is that most of my contacts are people I don’t actually know. Sure, I have lots of friends and acquaintances in my circles (25 out of 82) but so far most of them don’t use G+ a lot. So most of my interaction there is with people I have never met in person. Compare that to Facebook, where the vast majority of my friends are those I know personally, and thus my interactions there reflect that. And since you don’t have to ‘friend’ people on G+ the associations are based much more on shared interests or pasts, not shared work or school or family history. Indeed, I have a few family members who have signed up but I don’t think they have posted one single item yet.
Gossip vs Conversation
All of this adds up. With a user profile skewed to male nerds, the typical conversation is definitely different. Lots of tech and internet-related discussions, lots of geeky and sophomoric humor. Less celebrity gossip, less cute video-of-the-day, and NO game updates! And the end result of this is that the conversations are much more the type of conversation I enjoy. I learn, I interact with my fellow nerds, I enjoy. And this means that I’m spending a lot more time on Google Plus lately.
Unlike a true man-cave, sports is not something I discuss a lot on G+. So maybe it’s the nerd version of man-cave. A nerd-cave!
Oh god, that just sounds so wrong in so many ways…
