Gender and image sharing on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and WhatsApp in the UK

Abstract

Mike Thelwall, Farida Vis Purpose: Despite the ongoing shift from text-based to image-based communication in the social web, supported by the affordances of smartphones, little is known about the new image sharing practices. Both gender and platform type seem likely to be important, but it is unclear how. Design/methodology/approach: This article surveys an age-balanced sample of UK Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and WhatsApp image sharers with a range of exploratory questions about platform use, privacy, interactions, technology use and profile pictures. Findings: Females shared photos more often overall and shared images more frequently on Snapchat, but males shared more images on Twitter, particularly for hobbies. Females also tended to have more privacy-related concerns but were more willing, in principle, to share pictures of their children. Females also interacted more through others' images by liking and commenting on them. Both genders used supporting apps but in different ways: females applied filters and posted to albums whereas males retouched photos and used photo organising apps. Finally, males were more likely to be alone in their profile pictures. Practical implications: Those designing visual social web communication strategies to reach out to users should consider the different ways in which platforms are used by males and females to optimise their message for their target audience. Social implications: There are clear gender and platform differences in visual communication strategies. Overall, males may tend to have more informational, and females more relationship-based, skills or needs. Originality/value: This is the first detailed survey of electronic image sharing practices and the first to systematically compare the current generation of platforms.

Smartphone interaction and survey data as predictors of snapchat usage

“…Although gender effects have been reported in previous studies [2,21,30] and we found a significant difference in usage levels with women interacting significantly more with Snapchat than men, gender does not appear to be a significant predictor for Snapchat use in our sample. In contrast to gender, age was consistently a significant predictor for Snapchat usage with a high beta weight.…”

“…Pew Research Center [20] reports for 2018, that in the US, 23% of men and 31% of women declared using Snapchat. Differences in usage have been also observed, with Thelwall and Vis [30] findings that men were more likely to share images on Twitter while women used Snapchat more with the same intent. This trend was the same for posting frequency.…”

Information Sources and Constraints to Climate Change Adaptation amongst Smallholder Farmers in Amathole District Municipality, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

“…It allows for information sharing, participatory and collaborative interactions among groups of users [126]. Social media has provided varieties of innovative interaction systems [127,128] and meets the need for instant access to information [129]. These media applications have been found by many studies [124,[130][131][132] as critical contemporary information tools.…”

Understanding the trust building mechanisms in social media

“…Thus, regulatory effectiveness is expected to be an antecedent of trust in institution in this study. Further, prior studies have provided increasing evidences that females and males differ in their decisions relevant to trust (Thelwall and Vis, 2017). Riedl et al (2010) also indicate that different trust building mechanisms may work in different ways for males and females.…”