Women and Twitter
from Persona Prime at http://silona.org/women-and-twitter/2010/01/05/
@thenextwomen: New Article: Women on Twitter for Business Reasons Why http://bit.ly/914BaD
Made me think about my gaming days… And all the discussions we used to have about women in gaming and getting more women involved in gaming. We noticed that games with low introduction barriers were the most popular with women and captured the casual gamer market.
Two major ones that stood out to me are Solitaire and Tetris. (I actually had a 4am discussion about this w Alexey at Burningman this year too. I was camped at Tetrion - a very loud camp esp once the two 40ft tetris screens were setup. We were celebrating Tetris’s 25 yr anniversary. Henk was the initiator of the idea and got Alexey out there in all the dust and noise.)
Alexey believes (if I heard him right - it was kinda loud
) that women like Tetris because you are constantly building/creating/fixing something rather than destroying. I’d like to say that was true but I think it is something deeper than that. At Dave and Busters, all the girls play Day of the Dead. I think it is because the interface is quickly accessible. Also you are cooperating with your partner.
So adoption…It also wasn’t a time issue - I noticed many women getting lost in those games for hours.
To me it all come around to interfaces… women have less patience with overly complex interfaces. I found that on average men would spend more time trying to figure out an interface than a woman would. Women seem to adopt faster when the interface is simple. We know how to create the necessary social structures/rules so we prefer interfaces that get out of our way and allow us to do so.
I think that is why women love twitter and have adopted faster.
***disclaimer all of this is said in recognition of “Sparkling Generalities.” There are always exceptions to the rules. I am just mulling over a pattern I have personally observed. I am very open to opposing evidence esp scientifically gathered!
@thenextwomen: New Article: Women on Twitter for Business Reasons Why http://bit.ly/914BaD
Made me think about my gaming days… And all the discussions we used to have about women in gaming and getting more women involved in gaming. We noticed that games with low introduction barriers were the most popular with women and captured the casual gamer market.
Two major ones that stood out to me are Solitaire and Tetris. (I actually had a 4am discussion about this w Alexey at Burningman this year too. I was camped at Tetrion - a very loud camp esp once the two 40ft tetris screens were setup. We were celebrating Tetris’s 25 yr anniversary. Henk was the initiator of the idea and got Alexey out there in all the dust and noise.)
Alexey believes (if I heard him right - it was kinda loud
) that women like Tetris because you are constantly building/creating/fixing something rather than destroying. I’d like to say that was true but I think it is something deeper than that. At Dave and Busters, all the girls play Day of the Dead. I think it is because the interface is quickly accessible. Also you are cooperating with your partner.
So adoption…It also wasn’t a time issue - I noticed many women getting lost in those games for hours.
To me it all come around to interfaces… women have less patience with overly complex interfaces. I found that on average men would spend more time trying to figure out an interface than a woman would. Women seem to adopt faster when the interface is simple. We know how to create the necessary social structures/rules so we prefer interfaces that get out of our way and allow us to do so.
I think that is why women love twitter and have adopted faster.
***disclaimer all of this is said in recognition of “Sparkling Generalities.” There are always exceptions to the rules. I am just mulling over a pattern I have personally observed. I am very open to opposing evidence esp scientifically gathered!
