The Road to a Woman's Heart (and Wallet) Is Via Social Media

LOS ANGELES—Sometimes you find interesting information in the most unexpected places. For instance, an infographic created by FinancesOnline.com contains data that indicates "some distinct patterns that suggest women are taking over social media," as the site put it. For adult companies looking to further ingratiate themselves to women, the data contained in the infographic should be an eye-opener. Contained within the data are some potentially very valuable seeds. For example, "The infographic shows that women not only use social media more often than men, but they use these sites in more ways," write Alex Hillsberg and David Adelman for Finances Online. ”More women also use the top social media sites and they dominate the visual-type social websites, which are the fastest growing social networks today. No site establishes women’s dominance in social media more than  Pinterest, where 33% of U.S. women online access Pinterest (for men it’s only 8%). "But more tellingly is how women lead the trend of accessing social media via mobile," it continues. Forty-six percent of women use their smartphones to check their social account versus 43% for men. Likewise, 32% of women use a tablet versus 20% of men for the same reason. Now juxtapose that to the Business Insider report saying 60% of social media time is spent on smartphones and tablets, and you’ll realize women will be setting the pace towards social mobiles." In terms of trends, the authors also expect more brands and content to lean toward women's interests, and though they probably mean mainstream content, marketers in adult are clearly on the same wavelength, despite the still prevalent assumption that porn is always made for men. Whether the percentage made remains targeted toward men or not, the fact remains that women are increasingly coming out of the "porn closet," eager to admit that they are also interested in it, and any industry struggling to maintain revenue in the face of brutal global headwinds, technological challenges and omnipresent piracy should embrace with gratitude the expansion of its fan base, even if the new viewers are historical aliens of a sort. In terms of popular trends, adult has long embraced social media, using it to advantage as cleverly and creatively as any industry on the planet, and it may well come as no surprise to the women in the industry that they truly are social media's mavens. But for many in the older, male set, the "news" that "Women are the Real Power Behind Social Media" needs the sort of reinforcement represented by the Finances Online infographic. Whether it's Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, Instagram or Facebook, women account for the majority of users. Only with LinkedIn do males enjoy a slight lead. In terms of frequency of interaction, women rule there, too, and they also have a significant lead in terms of their interaction with brands through social media, and utilizing social media via mobile devices, and especially tablets. Even for content producers and marketers of adult content and products, information like that should be like manna from heaven, as they say.