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 Our
Featured News articles will cover Halloween items from all over the
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interesting Halloween news can be found here. We'll try and keep up to
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Women Bigger Net
Users Than Men
Surge in teen surfers helps create female majority online
MOUNTAIN VIEW, California (August 10, 2000) -
Women have become the online majority, for the first time eclipsing the total number of
men surfing the Internet, a new study has found.
Women made up 50.4% of the U.S. Web population in May, and have been flocking to the
Internet in much greater numbers than men, according to a joint report released yesterday
by Jupiter Communications and Media Metrix, two Internet research firms.
Although a number of sites have emerged recently dedicated to serving the female audience,
including Oxygen.com, iVillage.com, Women.com and ClubMom.com, the study found that
gender-neutral sites remain much more popular among women.
While the overall U.S. Internet population rose 22.4% during the past year, the ranks of
women users grew by 34.9%.
"Clearly, we're glimpsing a new gender parity online," said Anne Rickert,
co-author of the study. "As the Internet becomes more and more of a mainstream
medium, women become more critical to the equation in terms of content and e-commerce
development."
The most marked increase in female traffic between May, 1999, and May, 2000, occurred
among girls between the ages of 12 and 17, whose online presence surged 126.3%. These
teens were attracted mostly to sites featuring fashion, shopping and music content, such
as Cosmogirl.com and Alloy.com.
The researchers attributed the rising interest of teen girls in the Internet in part to
the proliferation of community sites that allow girls to exchange their personal stories,
such as Gurl.com, Delias.com and Kibu.com.
The number of women over the age of 55 using the Web also increased dramatically year over
year, jumping 109.5%, while women aged 18 to 24 showed a decrease in overall usage of
4.5%.
In general, the study found, women's use of the Web is highly practical, focusing on sites
that save them time and money.
"As women enter the workforce, productivity online becomes key. Those with families,
or planning families, go for parent and community-oriented sites. Later in life, women
favour e-commerce and financial services sites -- though not necessarily those geared
specifically toward women," Ms. Rickert and her co-author, Anya Sacharow, wrote.
At the far end of the scale, girls aged 2 to 11 were drawn to sites that feature
television-related content, licensed merchandise, music and learning. While the number of
sites catering to women has exploded, the study found that about 30% of the traffic to
these portals actually consists of men.
It also noted that the female presence online is anchored by women aged 25 to 44, who
account for more than 21% of all Web traffic today. The Jupiter and Media Metrix study was
based on a survey of Internet usage in more than 55,000 U.S. homes and businesses.
Source - National Post
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Every
year, Halloween enthusiasts anxiously await the retail
industry to begin their Halloween season and see who's
first to stock products for the spooky season. Many
stores begin stocking Halloween products as early as
July! |
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