Women 2.0
Something interesting happened to me the other day. While I was browsing around the web reading all the great Web 2.0 sites out there, I realized that a majority of these applications cater to men. Not because of the purpose that they serve since they are “made” for all sexes, but being designed, programmed and coded by men there usually isn’t an ounce of female input involved in the product. Now that may be par for the course, but isn’t that a bit strange?
Look at both MySpace and YouTube and you will find that the people with the most friends and watched videos are women. If you have any sort of knowledge about today’s economy you know that women control a majority of all major purchasing decisions. I know at my parent’s house nothing major gets bought without my Mom’s go ahead (sorry Dad). Same with my grandparents.
Looking at the MySpace pages of my friends that are girls and I find that they put a lot more time and effort into customizing their pages than the guys. Admittedly I am sometimes stuck with the stereotype in my head that men are superior to women when it comes to technology (male ego will never leave it seems), but it’s funny when I hear guys ask a girl “how did you get that on your MySpace page?”
Let’s take this argument a step further and look at product design. Apple’s iPod had a great design from the beginning which could easily appeal to both sexes. When Apple released the version of the iPod Mini with multiple colors rarely did I hear guys talking about which colors they were going to get, they were focused on specs. However, the idea of having a personalized color of an iPod seemed to appeal to the females and I wouldn’t be surprised to see if more women owned iPods than men.
Apple’s competition could match the specs of the iPod and could even offer a lower price but, you could tell that the designs that were coming out were all about what the men thought was good design. This is just one of the gajillion reasons that I brought Tyme White on board at 9rules. She does everything that a guy can do in her position (and more), but also offers something a man could never do and that is give us the female perspective on things that we so desperately needed. Now we still have a long way to go to understanding where she is coming from on certain things, but believe me when I say we are starting to get on the same wavelength no matter how much adjusting it takes.
Ever go to a club and wonder why women get all the good deals (2-4-1s, drink free till 1am, etc)? It’s because men don’t like going to clubs where women aren’t around so it’s essential to get the women to your club first. Dating sites follow the same creed. Celebrity gossip/popculture sites are some of the most highly traficked sites on the web. The funny thing about Calacanis paying people to submit stories to Netscape is that maybe the way to beat Digg isn’t by taking the best submitters around, but by appealing to women and the other demographics that Digg doesn’t even touch.
So next time you design something or have an idea about a new site, ask a female what she thinks about it and you will get a honest answer which will go a long way in letting you know how successful you will be. Males think all of our buddies ideas are good so really we aren’t much of a help to each other. However, if it doesn’t appeal to the ladies then it probably shouldn’t appeal to you either. And don’t think this entry was about equal opportunity for women. No, no, my interests are far more selfish. This was more about opening my blind eyes to opportunities that have been around since the dawn of time and how stupid I am for just now recognizing them. Yeah Mom I know, you told me so.
Related reading:
As a woman, the divide as to what is aimed at women and what isn’t has been seen by me for a while. Working in the web industry and being a woman is really interesting due to a number of factors – let alone the fact everyone assumes you are a bloke. Women I think are far more crtiical of work – I know my ‘trusted’ people for opinions with regards to the women, are far more critical. Designing and developing to target both genders is a fine line and very market dependable.
By karmatosed on August 3, 2006 11:12 am
Yeah that was one of my points indirectly. I think men will allow most of these new sites to get away with a crummy design, but I know a lot of women are turned off by anything that isn’t remotely pleasant.
When doing the new 9rules design, the early comps were done in February and Tyme mentioned one aspect of the design that she wasn’t too keen on and unsurprisingly that’s the one part that everyone seems to pick on. Go figure.
By Scrivs on August 3, 2006 11:47 am
I think you can see it in fashion also as a good illustration. Women accessorise – often me don’t get it but for a woman it’s all in the details. The age old women do cushions comes to mind.
By karmatosed on August 3, 2006 12:21 pm
When I looked at Mashable’s front page just now, everything posted there looks like it’s in touch with it’s feminine side. Even the mashable site is “female friendly” (within the context of what you’re writing here).
The bigger thing that I’m seeing in 99.9% of all web-apps out there (being of the 2.0 variety) is that they are all very adolescent looking. Not there is anything wrong with that, but I think a good number of older adults get turned off by the design, thinking this is something for the kids, and probably built to withstand not much more than kid needs.
Now before I get flamed, I DO understand that there are a good number of apps out there that can handle whatever I throw at it. I myself, as an “older adult” use many of them myself. But as there are a large number of people who have no clue as to what web 2.0 are, nor have never heard of a certain agency in Chicago, there are an equal number turned out by the design of the interfaces out there.
Flickr is a good example of a company that has crossed both the limitations of sex appeal and generational gaps, in my opinion.
By Mark on August 3, 2006 12:35 pm
yep… appealing to men only is limiting your audience by at least 50%, usually more.
This reminds me of http://cssprincess.com/, though it’s hardly related to the subject.
By Montoya on August 3, 2006 1:30 pm
Mark: Agreed on that point and that’s what I was trying to get at a bit with Calacanis and Netscape. Instead of going after the same crowd why don’t you go for a bigger crowd. When you take a step back and look at the ratio of web male geeks that use Digg vs. the amount of people that use the web you will see that they are small.
Now I’m not saying you shouldn’t go after MySpace because that space will continue to grow until its really saturated and it isn’t just because we see these sites first on the blogs we read. But imagine actually going after the elderly with a social site (have no doubt that it exists somewhere) or a place where ONLY women can go without worrying about us males trying to get them in bed.
This is the part that Web 2.0 missed completely. We got so stuck on features and topping the next person that we didn’t realize that maybe we are doing what Microsoft did with Word and started to create things where 80% of the use is only by 20% of the people.
Montoya: Yeah CSS Princess took it to the extreme with a female geared site, but nothing wrong with that. Freshness is always good.
By Scrivs on August 3, 2006 1:38 pm
Mark: The font-size here on Wisdump probably doesn’t cater to your old eyes does it? :-P
By Scrivs on August 3, 2006 1:39 pm
No sweat. I just tilt my head until the bifocals kick in.
By Mark on August 3, 2006 1:47 pm
Oh, and yeh there actually is a social site out there for the ancient among us (me) –
http://www.eons.com/
Ok. I’m not that old, and not quite ready to join a community which has an online obits section.
By Mark on August 3, 2006 1:52 pm
I’d sign up for it in a minute however, if they offered that “can’t turn you down for any reason” insurance that Alex Trabek peddles, though.
;)
By Mark on August 3, 2006 1:54 pm
I always inwardly cringe when I see designing for females discussed because *very* few companies get it right. There are so many misguided assumptions about what we want and look for in gadgets, apps, websites, etc. I’m glad that there’s an awareness that including a female perspective is important, but designing something specifically *for* women always leaves much to be desired, in my opinion.
By Nicole on August 3, 2006 2:28 pm
Ah come on now Mark, do it for the new connections you would make. Nicole, I get what you are saying and that’s why I avoided trying to say that companies run and designed by men should go in trying to design for the ladies. Let’s not assume it’s all pink and tutus.
By Scrivs on August 3, 2006 8:27 pm
Back on subject…
Eons ago, I wrote a post about the Volvo YCC, a concept car built by an all woman design team at Volvo. The original post is not online anymore, but it’s captured here if you want to see it.
It’s an amazing car — beautiful and practical. Strong enough for a man, but…
You can check it out here
Last I heard though, I think they cancelled the project because some women (ironically) found some of the features too sexist. [I think that's correct, I could be wrong though -- too lazy at the moment to research it]
By Mark on August 3, 2006 10:46 pm
[...] Noah is still off in Korea, check his blog for details. I invited Joe back to the Cast of Pod and had a fun time gaining a little bit of ‘outsider perspective’ to the internet. Just a quick look at what ‘the internet’ means to someone outside of the 2.0 bubble (Scrivs had a good post on this earlier, too). [...]
By yopos.com » Blog Archive » Cast of Pod #8: Joe, The Internet | young professionals on August 4, 2006 5:02 am
[...] Now I definitely think that men and women bring different things to the table, and that if a product or a service is going to be used by both men and women, that men and women should both be involved in the creation process. Both in the visual design as well as the user experience, and architecture of the product. Paul Scrivens noted this recently as he mentioned bringing Tyme White into the fold over at 9rules. A women’s perspective is just as important and valid as a man’s in development, design, marketing, and all other aspects of a product or service. And that isn’t necessarily because of a person’s gender. If you’re a skilled programmer, you’re a skilled programmer. Today Kathy Sierra (who is fantastic and you should read her every day) wrote about how she is not a programHer, she’s a programmer. Just like I’m not a project managHim. But she’s already covered that. [...]
By vigilanteweblog » Blog Archive » Getting Deeply Geeky with the Women of BlogHer on August 5, 2006 1:48 pm
[...] Women 2.0. No, not a new version of women (for starters you just couldn’t improve on the current model ) but rather Scrivs having a moment and realizing that women are a vast, untapped resource on the web. I leave him to explain it better. [...]
By Bright Meadow » Sunday Roast: please god tell me I’ve not inspired something burgundy on August 6, 2006 8:32 am
[...] Last week’s Women 2.0 seemed to strike a nerve with a lot of people and most of them were women. Glad to see the fellas jump onboard, but I digress. Two comments about 9rules and myself struck a nerve with me this weekend and it made me realize how much people still don’t get the web. Wait, let me rephrase that, how much geeks and the web elite still don’t get the web. [...]
By The People Web » Wisdump on August 7, 2006 2:17 pm
I applaud your efforts to think and write about the other half here, but I feel I must point out that you made a bit of a sexist faux pas at the end there.
You say, “So next time you design something or have an idea about a new site, ask a female what she thinks about it …”
This sentence assumes two things: first, that your reader is male, and second (and worse) that anyone designing something must be male too! I know, I know, you totally didn’t mean it that way. But …
You gotta be careful when talking about us, haven’t you heard? We’re sensitive. ;o)
By Mani Sheriar on August 10, 2006 7:37 pm
Ya that’s why the divorce rate is so high and the whole world is falling apart ! Because women run the world. Men are suckers for a womans beauty, they see that, and they take advantage. Why wouldn’t they ? It’s no wonder that in some countries women have many restrictions and men dominate. Men in these countries get to be men
By frank on August 13, 2006 10:17 pm
Thanks for that post. And thanks Mani for pointing out the last line ;) Sometimes in life, you end up sounding like a raving feminist for nit-picking, however, in my experience, as soon as a guy experiences 1% of the blockout we get, the reaction is instant and loud…
You’re completely right, women do come at things from a different angle, which appears to be why our business (with one male, one female) seems to keep us both in line and both adding something quite different. It’s not, like you say, about tutus and glitter, but more about our whole approach to viewing the world, business and products. It’s not better, it’s just vastly different.
Thanks again,
Nat
By Natalie Ferguson on August 15, 2006 6:03 pm
[...] The fallacy of web 2.0 Comments » [...]
By Shallway | 万事开头难 :: POSTs from wisdump :: August :: 2006 on August 21, 2006 1:25 pm
[...] In a recent article, he writes about the importance of considering women as a unique audience in designing web content or products. Something interesting happened to me the other day. While I was browsing around the web reading all the great Web 2.0 sites out there, I realized that a majority of these applications cater to men. Not because of the purpose that they serve since they are “made†for all sexes, but being designed, programmed and coded by men there usually isn’t an ounce of female input involved in the product. Now that may be par for the course, but isn’t that a bit strange? [...]
By Tales by the Fire » Blog Archive » Valuing Women in Our Communities on October 23, 2006 7:51 pm
Yapp – we`re only in family things in web2.0. But not everybody.
“So next time you design something or have an idea about a new site, ask a female what she thinks about it and you will get a honest answer which will go a long way in letting you know how successful you will be” thats what my man is doing, and that`s why he`s more succesfull now!
But as longe the net is in the hand of men…..look at the top`s of youtube! ;-(
By Antje on March 12, 2007 12:45 pm
@antje…this is really not true! Of course men are mainly in the web2.0 business:
- they run mainly a technic business, so the technic themes are more important in the net
- they are much more used connecting to new technologies
- they need more affirmation ;-)
But we girls run more “comunication business”, so we can rule the more comunicativ thing ins web2.0. Not the often sexist trailers in youtube – but the blognews like mine!
By Nachrichten on March 22, 2007 2:20 pm
[...] I read Women 2.0 this morning and figured it was time to jot down some of my thoughts on the role of women in technology, business and as consumers. [...]
By Simple and Loveable » Blog Archive » A Word About Women on May 1, 2007 12:39 am