Girls may not run the world, but they dominate on the web.
![[optional image description]](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/science/nielsen615.png)
When it comes to the demographic discrepancies of social media usage, we tend to think primarily about age. Young people, we assume, are Facebook addicts; older people, we assume, are Facebook-phobes. And while generational divisions have represented, and continue to represent, a primary division in the way Americans use social media, there's another important factor, as well: gender.
In a report released this morning, Nielsen found that women, overall, are significantly more likely to engage with social media than men. Per Nielsen's Internet-usage index, women are 8 percent more likely than the average online adult to build or update a personal blog -- while men are 9 percent less likely to do so. Similarly, women are 18 percent more likely than the baseline American to fan or follow a brand on Facebook or other social media sites ... while men are 21 percent less likely. Have created at least one social networking profile? Women: 6 percent more likely to have done that. Men: 7 percent less likely. Used the Internet to purchase a product featured on TV? The ladies: 12 percent more likely. The dudes: 14 percent less likely.