Women greater users of social media-opportunities abound?

Women are using social networking sites a lot more than men according to a study from information is beautiful.

Twitter,facebook,ning and friendsfeed all show that the proportion of women using the sites are higher than men and sites such as Myspace and Bebo show even higher figures.

As Gina Chen writes over at Nieman

it’s important to understand the demographics of each social network because “news organizations — especially newspapers — have struggled for years to attract as many female readers/users as they do with males.

and adds that for

news organizations the question is not really why do women get social media but what does that mean for attracting women readers? If news organizations can answer that second question, they will stand to gain readers — and money — for sure.

Social media and newspapers

It's worth reading Editor and Publisher's special report into the use of social media by newspapers.

Two of the challenges that they identify are

1. deciding which to focus on, how to juggle what to put where, and how to still keep people coming to your Web site and print product. Readers can end up using Twitter or Facebook as the only means of following news; goodbye, newspaper sites.

2.the ongoing debate over how to limit or regulate what journalists put on these sites — how far is too far with opinion or personal information?

They are questions that are not solely for newspapers and the media but for most organisations.It will take time for its place to evolve,there will be mistakes and there will be opportunities.

One other main point that comes up is the issue of fatigue

Along with writing for print, which most journalists at newspapers still do, they are updating Web stories and often blogging. Add in Twitter updates of stories and observations, maintaining Facebook or MySpace pages, and checking those of others they are "following" or "friending" and the task-juggling only increases — all as newsrooms continue to cut staff.

as well as the perennial question of writing a social media policy,ranging from.

Don't discuss articles that haven't been published, meetings you've attended or plan to attend with staff or sources, or interviews that you've conducted"

to

"we don't use new media to get into verbal fisticuffs with rivals or critics, or to advance personal agendas."

As I have written many times we are in the early stages of social media.Organisations are taking early steps and are still experimenting with the medium.