Gender similarities in blog use


David Huffaker examines the online identity and language among blogging teenagers in his M.A. thesis. The conclusion is: "Contrary to prediction, the results indicate that there are more gender similarities than differences in blog use." Although I generally oppose to categories of "female" and "male" use of and ways of doing things, I enjoyed reading Huffaker's study.

This weekend, I re-read and checked the spelling in my Master's thesis, as it's about to be published. Again, my findings on gendered differences in the mere use of e-communications amongst the students I studied surprised me. The women were far less active ICT users than men. I didn't quite expect such a strong correlation between gender and use of ICT:s.

Study found via Misbehaving.net