Although the 2000 romantic comedy starring Helen Hunt and Mel Gibson claimed to know “What Women Want” — apparently they just want a good man who understands them — Advertising Age says in a recent issue that they just want to surf the Internet.

“Most peg 2007 as the year women tipped the scale to compose more than 50 percent of online users,” the article states. “The number of unique visits to women’s community sites jumped 35 percent to almost 70 million from 52 million.”

According to recent research by ComScore, “more than 43 million moms go online daily and spend an average of 85 minutes there.” What are women doing online? Browsing, shopping, viewing and making major life decisions. A recap of some of the data:

They’re shopping. According to Burst Media, “more than 54 percent of women shopped online in the first half of 2007.” Online female shoppers are well-to-do: “68 percent of women in households with incomes of $100,000 or more,” are leading the way in Internet purchases. Chief among their purchases were travel, adult clothing, health/beauty products, children’s clothing, financial products and food/groceries.

They’re single, educated and heavily reliant on the Internet. A recent Jupiter Research study finds that single females, compared to married women, spend a lot of time online. These singles are between the ages of 25 and 34, and 48 percent have a college degree. "They’re more likely to watch full-length TV shows and video clips online than other women and will more often search for local dining and entertainment information, use instant messaging, visit social-networking sites, read blogs, and download music.”

They’re into YouTube. Women overall, single or otherwise, are watching more of YouTube.com, suggests research from a Pew Internet and American Life study, with “11 percent of the women surveyed saying they had visited ‘yesterday’ vs. just 5 percent saying so at the end of 2006 (and still quite far behind men’s reported 20 percent daily use).”

They also play interactive games online, do medical research and get parental advice online.

Find out about how one florist jumped on the YouTube bandwagon.

--Cassandra P. Foster
cfoster@safnow.org

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