Cone, inc. published a remarkable survey with some striking findings about social media. Many high points are touched on at Search Engine Watch, but the point that struck me as most telling was the high number of men who use Social Media. Specifically, “Men are twice as likely to interact with companies via social media than women. 33% will interact one or more times a week while only 17% of women will.”

C'mon, Paulie, friend me already

There are some questions about how this survey uses “social media”, but if it relates to a company, it probably has to do with forums or blogs. The other question is what it means to “interact”. Is that someone reading a company’s blog? Posting an opinion?

I find these questions fascinating, because Social Media is often described as the “softer” side of online marketing. What might we learn about what Social Media means? Is it just a hyper-personal information tool, which often appeals to men more than women? Do men like the fact that they can dialogue through posted, uninterrupted entries, as in a blog post or a forum? How closely do men observe the activities and opinions of other men in these forums? The survey opens up a whole world of great questions.

My unscientific guess, supported by our local male-geek-expert Jessica, is that men are heavy users of forums and blog comment groups in order to gather information and learn about positions of other posters. The fairly confrontational nature of forums may lend itself to male dialogue patterns.

So. If a company wants to bring women into the fold through social media, what should it do? Are there formats in Social Media that encourage more female participation than male participation?

I’ll ponder these things as I check my ESPN rss feed.