When it comes to social media, the photo-heavy social networks across the board lure more women than men. Perhaps it could be that the fairer gender is more obsessed than their masculine counterparts with showing the world just how great-a-life they are leading. ‘They be like “just look at how fantastic my existence is” and they want the whole world to know.’
Well, according to data from a company in the business of measuring internet traffic, comScore. Women make up 58% of Instagram’s 108 million unique visitors, while men make up 42%. Apparently, this double-digit disparity between male and female Instagram users has been consistent even in 2015.
Although Instagram with its over half a billion users has people from all walks of life, according to Alice Marwick, a social media researcher at Fordham University. The diversity of people using Instagram does not prevent most of the users conforming to a generic idea of how people should look like.
Marwic says, “With the most mainstream Instagram users we see very conventional beauty standards and aesthetics.” It is this singular focus that is driving women to the social network.
As you probably already know, Instagram is big with fashion, design, and beauty products. These are the biggest pull factors for most women, and they are also the target of such products as they are seeking to make sales. As Instagram’s primary function is to share pictures (which are almost always enhanced using flattering built-in filters) places much emphasis on things looking good and attractive.
A gender researcher, Racheal Simmons has lots of written works on teen girls and how they are flattered with tools that make their pictures appear flawless said: “Young women dominate Instagram and visual platforms in general. Instagram gives you the power to modify your appearance in a way that’s practically on par with makeup and other beauty products.”
More on this at The Atlantic.
