Hi, Mary!

I think that  different behaiviour Internet strategies go from usual different  gendered strategies.-The girls are not really encouraged to be tech-savvy and to upload videos you need to know a little bit more that being just a regular user.and then the girls are still taught to be modest,shy  and silent.So they let boys construct the WEB.

Hi Mary,

Thanks for your response to the questions posed. I think it's a very good thing that you present these conclusions with some scrutiny, but they definitely seem plausible to me. In case of the video/photo ratio amongst boys and girls separately and between them combined, we indeed will have to wait and see what future developments will bring––video still needs some more instantiating on social network sites and mobile devices in order to lead to really valuable data.

Regarding the privacy restrictions imposed by teens: it has surprised me––or maybe it hasn't––that this conclusion hasn't been picked up by the mainstream media. It would be a fair argument against the widespread paranoia concerning social networking, privacy, and the corrupting of our children's minds. I'm very happy to read that teens seem to be well able to determine which information about their private lives should (not) be out in the wild, especially since this is supported by hard statistical evidence. The error adults seem to make, is that they assess the online behavior of (their) children as measured in terms of their own online habits. As your study points out, children have a rather different surfing behavior than adults––but I'm sure findings like these won't be picked up by Fox News.

Thanks so much to everyone who has contributed thoughtful questions and comments to this post. To respond to the observations about the gender gap in photo posting vs. video posting, there’s no simple data-driven answer from this study, but it’s clear that these differences do play out on social networking sites. In our “Teens, Privacy and Online Social Networks” study from earlier in the year, we looked at gender differences in photo posting on teens’ social networking profiles. Girls who maintain profiles were not only more likely than boys to post photos of themselves to their profile (83% vs. 74%), but they were also more likely to post photos of others to their profile (72% vs. 58%).

I think that John Palfrey suggests some smart theories in the NYTimes article about the different motivations that drive this activity. Girls are very much engaged with the art of self-expression and identity formation when using these tools, and it may be that boys tend more towards performance through video that allows them to show off their athleticism or other physical displays of talent. However, it’s still the case that boys are far more likely to post photos than videos overall, and it’s still the case that we’re only seeing the very early stages of how video will be used online.

With regard to the differences between adults and teens and the privacy choices they make online, there’s again not a silver bullet answer, but I can offer some observations driven by our focus group work. Part of what drives teens to restrict access to their photos, social networking profiles or any personal content online is the desire to keep it away from the prying eyes of adults—whether that’s their parents or teachers. Much of the interaction that happens in these spaces is witnessed by a very deliberately curated audience and is seen as happening in a realm that’s separate (and therefore more interesting) from the grown-up world of adults. Teens who naturally have more experience with these tools—and have heard about or experienced personal data leaks in their own social circles--may make more informed choices about what they share and who they share it with. Adults, in many ways, face a very different set of challenges when trying to negotiate the flattening social circles so common in social media spaces. In many cases, we have found ourselves pooling together everyone from high school friends to colleagues, cousins and neighbors. Fortunately, the tools are getting smarter, and I think we’re gradually getting smarter, too.

Hi Murugan,

The issue here is not one of gender inequality but rather what influences teen girls and teen boys to respond diffrently in their interraction with the internet. We all know the internet is a great platform of equality but that does not change our intrinsic biological make up. According to the reference i sited earlier, the biological make up of girls do favor them to engage more on the internet than boys. So as such many web 2.0 applications would serve as natural domains for girls and as result help to foster their enterpreneural skills as you rightly  mentioned. We only hope the girls would make worthwhile use of the opportunity the internet has offer them for their development and advancement rather than engage in sending petrify comments to sites like DontDateHimGirl.com. 

Hi Jasper,

I believe the only reason for "gender dichotomy between uploading pictures (significantly more girls) and videos (significantly more boys)" is that girls are more "sensitive" to how they look like on a video. We can pick up and upload a picture where we appear sexy/slim/sophisticated/younger than we are/older than we are, but it's  really hard to control your mime, facial expressions, posture/pounds gained, etc. on a video. I have no doubt that at least a half of female are not usually satisfied with how they look like on a video, especially not a professional one. There's a kind of discrepancy between the image of ourselves in our minds and in the eyes of the others. I don't know how it works with boys, obviously they just don't care that much...

Best,

Alla

We are all very familiar with the concept of the current Internet technology flattening the global landscape but, is it also having the same effect for breaking down gender barriers?  I would think that the current technological environment has fostered a growth in female entrepreneurs and other creative endeavors.

Hi Mary,

Thank you for this interesting post. Because of all the attention that your report has spawned concerning the more active role of teenage girls online compared to boys, I think it is a good thing that you draw attention to boys' role in video (re)production here now. What puzzles me in the PEW report, is the gender dichotomy between uploading pictures (significantly more girls) and videos (significantly more boys). I really wonder why this would be, since most social networking sites and mobile device facilitate both photo and video uploading. Any ideas on this?

Another conclusion from your report really resonated with me: the fact that teens are way more prudent in restricting access to their own photos than most adults. Would you agree with me that this divide could be caused by a gap in internet literacy between tech savvy teenagers and their confused parents?

Hi Mary,

Thanks for your post and the very nice examples of online boys doing their best in content creation. I still believe the trend mentioned in the pew internet report will continue in the long run and that online boys will always have to play catch up. I think this has to do with the our varying biological make-up "We know that girls' estrogen levels climb at puberty and flip the switches in their brains to talk more, interact with peers more, think about boys more, worry about appearance more, stress out more, and emote more. They are driven by a desire for connection with other girls - and with boys. Their dopamine and oxytocin rush from talking and connecting keeps them motivated to seek out these intimate connections. What they don't know is that this is their own special girl reality. Most boys don't share this intense desire for verbal connection, so attempts at verbal intimacy with their male contemporaries can be met with disappointing results. The following article explains why girls are more engaged with the internet than boys:  

Content-centered Conversations: The Pew Internet Report on Teens and Social Media

My question now is what concerns do you have based on this report on how these teens interact w

Little Lambs Eat Ivy

ith the social media in their adulthood. Somebody gave his thoughts on the report: