Genderization of Social Media By: Rakhi, Lisa, Mary, and Tricia
Feb 24, 2016
Genderization of Social Media
By: Rakhi, Lisa, Mary, and Tricia
The Research Began with Two Questions…
How do college students differ in their social media usage?
Are their gender differences in narcissistic tendencies
on social media sites?
HypothesesWomen use social media
sites more frequentlyMen display more
narcissistic tendencies
Another hypothesisUse of social networking sites will be positively correlated with
narcissism
Methods
O sixty participants
O 30 male/30 female
O Aged 18-25O Majority from
UMass Dartmouth
MeasuresO 11 item questionnaire for social networking
sitesO 59 item survey for narcissism
Procedure for Participants
Asked classmates and friends to participate.
Informed them of anonymity
Answered questions
Placed completed survey in secure place
Sample Questions O How many social networking sites
are you a member of?
O How often do you log on to these sites?
O What do you post most about?
O Why do you use social networking?
Narcissism StatementsO On a scale of 1 to 5
O I have a natural talent for influencing people
O If I ruled the world, it would be a better place
O I like to be the center of attention
O I prefer to blend in with the crowd
ResultsO Mean age of males was 20.63O Mean age of females was 21
Males are members of about 2.27 SNS
Females are members of about 3.37 SNS
Frequency of SNS Usage
MalesO 57.7% visit every
day/multiple times a day
O 20.7 have more than 100 pictures on profile
FemalesO 80% visit every
day/multiple times a day
O 48.3 have more than 100 pictures on profile
Females are more frequent users of SNS
Men have more narcissistic personality
Males: Narcissism and Reasons for SNS Usage
O 36.8% of males with high narcissism use SNS because every else has it as compared to 26.7% of females with high narcissism
O 36.8% of males with high narcissism use SNS to keep everyone updated on their life compared with 20% of females with high narcissism
However……..
No correlation between narcissist personality and SNS usage
Discussion• Both males and females like to talk mostly
about their daily activities, events, and lifestyle
• Posting subjects were common across gender
More Discussion…
O Males scored higher on 42 narcissism items (out of 59)
O Higher items were related to confidence
O Males narcissist tendencies are not on the high end of the scale
And More Discussion…O Females visited SNS every day multiple
times a day as opposed to males (80% vs. 56.7%)
O Females spent 1-5 hours per session on SNS as opposed to males who spent less than 30 minutes per session
O Males update status multiple times a day as opposed to females who update once a day
Limitations
• Not a large enough population
• Questions for SNS questionnaire
not detailed enough
• Narcissism survey could have included items reflecting narcissism and SNS
rather than just narcissism
Future Research• Intensify the use of survey to go in-depth
• Vary the ages to study a more general population