A couple of weeks ago I noted that Pinterest seems to be inhabited mostly by women. A friend noted that maybe there were men out there, I just wasn't following them. Touche, Natalie, touche. But it turns out she's right! Who knew?!
So I took it upon myself to check out males who are pinning and see what types of things they're pinning compared to the females. I took a totally non-random sample of females to get a general sense of their boards. Then I looked at another totally biased sample of men. (I only know one and he apparently pins only root beers.) Then I did no sort of valid statistical analysis at all yet I will draw statistical inference on what I found because I'm cool like that. Well-designed surveys can stuff it!
Women: Common boards were crafts, recipes, gift ideas, organizing tips, holiday stuff, home decor, travel, and quotes. Not much variation there.
Men: Much more entertaining boards than those of the women. I found one board called "Cuteness" that contained an 18-pound bunny (uh, "cute," really?). Another board titled, "Dear wifey, please make this." And another titled, "Mushy Stuff." Even one called "Manly Stuff." Most common boards were travel, products, books, technology, video game stuff, music, and movies, virtually no overlap with the women's boards. I will add that many of the men I clicked on had only one board with things pinned onto it, and many had no pins whatsoever. Women were definitely NOT that way.
Finally, and somewhat surprisingly, the Pinterest team? It's a small, California-based team made up of 10 people, and only TWO are women!
Conclusion: Like most other arenas, men and women are different. Finis.
(If only this could count for a dissertation, because I did it while the boys were napping and I was watching Biggest Loser. I'm pretty sure real dissertations are a bit more difficult. But just a bit.)
P.S. I must disclose my method for finding the men. I checked baby names from the year I was born (1977) to find the top five boys' names from that year. Then I searched for them on Pinterest and looked at a couple. Totally scientific and valid. It would pass any peer review; I guarantee it.
P.P.S. DUUUUDE. I got a $2 bill in the mail the other day, in the hopes of swaying me to answer an upcoming phone survey! Will I ever! They just bought me a McDonald's ice cream cone--I owe them much more than a phone survey. I'd likely have done it anyway. To think I almost ripped that envelope in two and threw it in the recycling.
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oh i love it all. you're funny. interesting statistical report. :)
ReplyDeletelove how you chose the male names. love that you got 2 bucks in the mail.
so awesome.
You know how much I love this. The snowball sampling of going from follower to followed might be a next option for another study. Love your sampling via popular names. Brilliant. And the extrapolations. Bringing it all back in contract with the Pinterest team... love that he/Ben is now married to one of his team members - did you get that email? So would you say that food is the only overlap between genders?
ReplyDeleteAnd now I am worried that I have ripped a $2 bill in half. Did you know that we had a $2 bill in our money box and Madeleine picked it up and was playing with it. I let her. Then Marc came home and asked me why I was letting her do that and my response: "It's just play money... it's okay." Yeah. I didn't know $2 bills were legit!