An interesting finding was discovered in a DigitalPoint Forums thread that references a study that says that men prefer Google as a search engine and women prefer Yahoo. From the thread:
About men, he states:Men tend to see it as an office, a library, or a playground--screw the community, this is about function not family.
Men tend to be more intense Internet users than women, being more likely to go online daily (61% of men and 57% of women) and more likely to go online several times a day (44% of men and 39% of women).
About women, he states:
The report found that women are more enthusiastic communicators, using email in a more robust way. Not only sending and receiving more email than men, women are more likely to write to family and friends about a variety of topics, sharing news, joys and worries, planning events, and forwarding jokes and stories.
While both sexes equally appreciate the efficiency and convenience of email, women are more likely than men to value the medium for its positive effects on improving relationships, expanding networks, and encouraging teamwork at the office.
I think this is an interesting observation. I commented from my own personal perspective that I seek out social networks, many of which are Yahoo! properties, but I personally think that the search engine itself does not include those "community elements" that are so heavily emphasized.
Interestingly enough, I discovered another post that showed that female Internet users outnumber males. This is is even more interesting considering that Google is the dominant search engine. I'd love to know what kind of sampling was taken for the study, since I question the accuracy of the data with the information provided.
Still, the psychology behind the study is an interesting one. Perhaps I'm just a bit biased because I'm so immersed in this technology and in social media as well. :)
To further test such hypotheses, Microsoft has an interesting adCenter Labs Demographics Prediction Tool. One can certainly have fun with this. I see that Barry did, but his findings were different.
Forum discussion continues at DigitalPoint Forums.
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Tamar Weinberg in Google Search Engine at April 17, 2007 11:11 AM
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The report was published at the end of 2005. While the demographics may not have changed much, both search engines have and new research would, in my opinion, be more useful.
Posted by Michael Martinez at April 17, 2007 11:33