A few weeks ago, I wrote a blog post on the MarketingProfs Daily Fix, in which I wondered: Why don't more women comment more on blogs...? Some of those who commented back suggested that maybe women don’t read as many blogs as men do, or they don’t read business blogs.
Of course, that was pure conjecture, since those commenting had read my post on... well, a blog. So now I’m raising in the newsletter the same issue I raised on the blog: Where are all the women?
Since we launched the MarketingProfs Daily Fix, I've been reading a lot more blogs more closely. I've noticed an overwhelming number of male "commenters," but far fewer female commenters. Evidence purely anecdotal, and from a single observer.
Just for kicks, I checked the Daily Fix blog stats. At the time that I checked, 447 comments had been left on 191 blog entries (posted by 33 authors) and on 647 news stories. Of those 447 comments, 50 were from me, so I eliminated them off the top since... well, it's my baby, so of course I'm extra chatty and involved.
So, of the 397 remaining comments, about 134 were from women. I say "about," because some judgment calls were involved: I based my unscientific research on the implied gender of a commenter's first name.
Anyway, at that point, 33.75 percent of the Daily Fix commenters were female and 66.25 percent male—that's a 1:1.96 ratio of male to female commenter, close to 1:2. In other words, two male commenters for every female commenter.
I know—so what? Well, there is a point to this. Andrea Learned, who writes for this blog as well as her own, has long said that women in general are less linear and more "connective."
So I'm wondering... if women are less linear, and blogs (and their billions of offshoots, side conversations, and tangential links) make them about as un-linear as content gets, why aren't more women into them? And if women are so connective, and blogs are so connective, why wouldn't women be chiming in more?
It's possible that women are reading blogs but aren't commenting on what they read. Or it's possible, as my friend Mack says, women are commenting in spades on some blogs but not on others.
But, in either case, why do blog comments appear to be dominated by men? I’d love to hear your thoughts. You can email me, or—even better—post your comments here.
Until next week,
Ann Handley
ann@marketingprofs.com
Chief Content Officer
MarketingProfs
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