Online reputation company Rapleaf has released a new study of 49.3 million people, revealing gender and age data about social network users. On most of the main social networks - including MySpace, Facebook, Bebo, Hi5 - women outnumber men by a considerable amount. On Facebook, the 18-24 age group is largest, with 1,685,029 women in that age group compared to 977,753 men. In MySpace, the same age group dominates, with 7,091,214 women and 5,226,788 men.
The only social networks studied that didn't have more women than men in the 18-24 year old group were venerable old LinkedIn (where incidentally the 25-34 age group was tops) and a site called Perfspot.
Other highlights:
Rapleaf states that it "analyzed people who are on at least one social network and in which there exists age information on these individuals." The study was done 10 June '08 and approx 90% of the 49m respondents were from the US. Here is the full data, courtesy of Rapleaf:
Gender and Age Analysis of Social Networking Users: Social Network Sites
| Social Network |
Gender | Age Groups | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14-17 | 18-24 | 25-34 | 35-44 | 45-54 | 55-64 | 65+ | ||
| Bebo | Women | 1,207,833 | 1,373,653 | 735,666 | 197,297 | 84,106 | 33,693 | 12,950 |
| Men | 569,510 | 802,474 | 488,944 | 162,689 | 63,119 | 27,058 | 10,775 | |
| Unspecified | 15,532 | 15,865 | 3,977 | 1,197 | 406 | 101 | 22 | |
| Blackplanet | Women | 120,981 | 346,629 | 164,383 | 47,500 | 13,660 | 3,361 | 1,814 |
| Men | 55,856 | 212,479 | 140,077 | 52,483 | 16,099 | 4,309 | 1,781 | |
| Unspecified | 3,114 | 9,027 | 4,870 | 2,152 | 843 | 240 | 29 | |
| Classmates | Women | 142,757 | 599,895 | 724,253 | 240,863 | 117,584 | 41,578 | 10,152 |
| Men | 62,885 | 278,908 | 435,742 | 211,079 | 100,527 | 41,874 | 12,527 | |
| Unspecified | 2,532 | 9,355 | 9,363 | 5,346 | 2,811 | 1,323 | 407 | |
| Women | 784,214 | 1,685,029 | 767,619 | 184,057 | 72,743 | 21,441 | 10,270 | |
| Men | 357,017 | 977,753 | 609,655 | 177,662 | 62,033 | 22,024 | 8,545 | |
| Unspecified | 29,495 | 82,958 | 47,769 | 13,403 | 4,595 | 1,549 | 405 | |
| Flickr | Women | 87,720 | 303,941 | 363,220 | 139,090 | 60,707 | 19,871 | 5,113 |
| Men | 44,170 | 235,015 | 398,061 | 205,631 | 89,587 | 33,994 | 8,998 | |
| Unspecified | 5,163 | 23,806 | 25,753 | 10,982 | 4,825 | 1,926 | 524 | |
| Flixster | Women | 2,221,835 | 3,258,823 | 1,841,543 | 658,189 | 297,477 | 93,020 | 27,204 |
| Men | 1,146,532 | 2,583,675 | 1,840,241 | 671,368 | 271,350 | 90,236 | 26,387 | |
| Unspecified | 439,005 | 936,040 | 728,514 | 309,983 | 132,917 | 56,386 | 16,674 | |
| Friendster | Women | 341,386 | 1,165,896 | 890,380 | 210,887 | 61,603 | 18,889 | 8,364 |
| Men | 225,834 | 975,965 | 904,600 | 279,728 | 85,178 | 27,573 | 11,975 | |
| Unspecified | 5,856 | 21,879 | 19,569 | 3,998 | 597 | 141 | 82 | |
| Hi5 | Women | 1,382,273 | 3,078,898 | 1,475,824 | 412,150 | 175,018 | 52,250 | 16,800 |
| Men | 724,153 | 2,610,316 | 1,927,297 | 612,917 | 231,727 | 76,374 | 22,358 | |
| Unspecified | 374,960 | 833,937 | 453,346 | 143,102 | 55,487 | 16,872 | 3,556 | |
| Women | 3,697 | 39,594 | 178,550 | 69,197 | 24,368 | 7,726 | 1,355 | |
| Men | 4,618 | 42,642 | 222,431 | 124,759 | 45,310 | 16,083 | 3,379 | |
| Unspecified | 610 | 7,905 | 27,858 | 13,456 | 5,264 | 2,005 | 402 | |
| Multiply | Women | 115,117 | 352,590 | 194,957 | 51,304 | 19,488 | 5,829 | 2,270 |
| Men | 55,054 | 261,803 | 194,818 | 63,000 | 25,247 | 8,846 | 3,042 | |
| Unspecified | 184 | 536 | 389 | 112 | 44 | 17 | 0 | |
| Myspace | Women | 5,158,453 | 7,091,214 | 3,800,542 | 1,252,287 | 542,694 | 167,087 | 71,531 |
| Men | 3,365,442 | 5,226,788 | 3,238,471 | 1,209,510 | 475,566 | 167,101 | 66,852 | |
| Unspecified | 3,147 | 4,726 | 2,540 | 1,137 | 548 | 251 | 67 | |
| MyYearbook | Women | 637,510 | 578,018 | 239,646 | 91,832 | 37,531 | 10,871 | 5,345 |
| Men | 280,131 | 292,263 | 127,999 | 55,766 | 23,582 | 7,503 | 3,145 | |
| Unspecified | 20,524 | 20,980 | 9,300 | 4,507 | 1,837 | 729 | 232 | |
| Perfspot | Women | 84,840 | 158,003 | 91,200 | 31,375 | 14,192 | 4,033 | 1,077 |
| Men | 66,643 | 317,958 | 260,641 | 86,707 | 29,974 | 9,494 | 2,790 | |
| Unspecified | 30 | 181 | 264 | 95 | 36 | 6 | 0 | |
| Tickle | Women | 743,111 | 1,491,975 | 887,369 | 318,578 | 151,490 | 44,742 | 12,876 |
| Men | 309,858 | 939,737 | 739,932 | 268,239 | 118,031 | 41,130 | 12,042 | |
| Unspecified | 70,562 | 177,297 | 100,108 | 34,037 | 14,204 | 5,048 | 1,235 | |
| ALL SOCIAL NETWORKS |
Women | 6,322,060 | 9,651,584 | 5,683,422 | 1,929,328 | 857,965 | 279,684 | 97,858 |
| Men | 4,050,429 | 7,546,654 | 5,543,729 | 2,113,597 | 873,135 | 323,251 | 108,731 | |
| Unspecified | 682,756 | 1,456,780 | 1,045,381 | 428,357 | 181,913 | 72,196 | 20,240 | |
Gender and Age Analysis of Social Networking Users: Number of Friends
| Number of Friends |
Gender | Age Groups | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14-17 | 18-24 | 25-34 | 35-44 | 45-54 | 55-64 | 65+ | ||
| Only 1 | Women | 494,290 | 1,082,078 | 774,348 | 332,421 | 187,938 | 69,763 | 17,661 |
| Men | 299,845 | 860,299 | 842,264 | 409,445 | 204,222 | 84,208 | 23,848 | |
| Unspecified | 163,006 | 376,327 | 371,830 | 185,357 | 89,406 | 39,707 | 11,944 | |
| 2-25 | Women | 1,479,294 | 2,480,716 | 1,712,634 | 717,988 | 341,775 | 105,332 | 25,928 |
| Men | 840,014 | 2,171,495 | 1,919,974 | 822,654 | 338,124 | 110,903 | 29,058 | |
| Unspecified | 294,199 | 606,504 | 441,939 | 174,253 | 66,304 | 23,410 | 5,837 | |
| 26-50 | Women | 270,902 | 637,285 | 412,133 | 140,068 | 47,173 | 9,074 | 3,261 |
| Men | 184,205 | 577,287 | 410,987 | 120,648 | 33,534 | 8,889 | 3,632 | |
| Unspecified | 27,318 | 81,351 | 42,756 | 9,768 | 2,804 | 653 | 134 | |
| 51-100 | Women | 299,873 | 818,744 | 453,323 | 105,268 | 27,640 | 5,518 | 3,509 |
| Men | 239,245 | 720,874 | 409,077 | 88,815 | 21,004 | 5,826 | 3,871 | |
| Unspecified | 24,307 | 74,446 | 35,330 | 5,584 | 1,359 | 260 | 72 | |
| 101-500 | Women | 750,850 | 1,656,855 | 505,277 | 81,626 | 22,222 | 7,517 | 9,867 |
| Men | 573,135 | 1,447,347 | 525,489 | 93,797 | 22,862 | 8,063 | 9,089 | |
| Unspecified | 90,430 | 176,024 | 45,515 | 4,453 | 871 | 189 | 104 | |
| 501-1,000 | Women | 90,868 | 151,497 | 28,281 | 6,187 | 2,159 | 921 | |
| Men | 58,242 | 142,456 | 45,275 | 11,604 | 3,242 | 1,113 | 1,345 | |
| Unspecified | 22,511 | 24,417 | 2,611 | 267 | 65 | 14 | 22 | |
| 1,001-10,000 | Women | 26,950 | 42,770 | 11,855 | 3,355 | 1,111 | 399 | 709 |
| Men | 20,824 | 35,819 | 21,446 | 7,558 | 2,202 | 623 | 765 | |
| Unspecified | 5,276 | 12,981 | 2,879 | 1,217 | 352 | 147 | 613 | |
| 10,000+ | Women | 148 | 505 | 328 | 73 | 24 | 5 | 14 |
| Men | 90 | 484 | 628 | 249 | 66 | 26 | 23 | |
| Unspecified | 11 | 17 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| At Least 1 Friend |
Women | 3,386,077 | 6,827,175 | 3,885,996 | 1,383,558 | 628,907 | 198,125 | 61,800 |
| Men | 2,194,686 | 5,919,758 | 4,153,066 | 1,546,963 | 622,988 | 219,002 | 70,843 | |
| Unspecified | 621,771 | 1,339,069 | 939,981 | 379,682 | 160,809 | 64,233 | 18,113 | |
You can also download the full dataset as a spreadsheet here.