If women are from Venus and men are from Mars, then it seems as if Venusians are much better at using social media to stay in touch with those who are closest to them. A recent study has revealed that more women than men use social media like Facebook and Twitter to update friends and family about their lives.
According to the survey, 68% of women use social media to connect with friends, as opposed to just 54% of men. For both genders, it’s a lower number when connecting with family: 60% of women, and a much smaller 42% of men, with work colleagues falling even further for both—just over a third of the women polled against just over a fifth of the men.
(MORE: Study: 18- to 30-Year-Olds Say Internet as Important as Food, Water and Air)
The study was carried out by telecommunications company Rebtel, which polled 2,361 U.S. adults about the methods they used to keep in touch with people. Perhaps unsurprisingly, email topped all other forms of communication, with 83% of all participants using it, compared with 74% using the phone, and only 61% using social networks. Least popular forms of communication were microblogging and, surprisingly, video chat. Looks like you still have some way to go before you hit the real mainstream, Skype.
MORE: Jaw-Dropper: 18 to 24 Year Olds Average 110 Text Messages per Day
[via Mediabistro]
Graeme McMillan is a reporter at TIME. Find him on Twitter at @Graemem or on Facebook at Facebook/Graeme.McMillan. You can also continue the discussion on TIME’s Facebook page and on Twitter at @TIME.