Doing Gender in Computer- Mediated Communication: The Blogosphere

1. Doing Gender in Computer-Mediated Communication: The Blogosphere Susan C. Herring Lois Ann Scheidt School of Library and Information Science Indiana University USA

2. Susan Herring, live via Internet Guten Tag, Meine Damen und Herren!

3. Definitions • Weblog (blog) • a web page and associated pages containing dated entries, typically displayed in reverse chronological sequence • The Blogosphere • the collective term encompassing all weblogs

4. Gender and CMC • Previous research has found gender differences in text-based computer-mediated communication (CMC) • Asynchronous: email, discussion lists, SMS • Synchronous: chat, MUDs, instant messaging • Differences in • Participation • Manner • Differences tend to disfavor women (e.g. Herring 2003)

5. Participation • In public discussion groups • Males post more messages • Males post longer messages • Male messages receive more responses • Males are more likely to persist in posting even when they receive no response • Females post more when a) group has a female moderator, and b) more than 60% of group is female (Herring 1993, 1996a, b; Hert 1997)

6. Discourse Styles • In public discussion groups • Males: more impersonal, fact-oriented, strong assertions, profanity, insults, sarcasm, rhetorical questions, challenges and disagreement with others • Females: more emotional, relation-oriented, mitigated assertions, non-declarative speech acts (questions, offers, suggestions), polite expressions (e.g., thanks, apologies), support and agreement with others (Herring 1993, 1994, 1996a, b; Hall 1996; Savicki 1996; Sutton 1994)

7. Research Questions • Are there gender differences in blogs? • If so: • What is their nature? • Do they favor one gender over the other?

8. Organization of the presentation • Overview of previous research on blogs and gender • Participation • Discourse style • New research • Study 1: Gender and blog genre • Study 2: Gender and adolescent diary blogs • Conclusions

9. Participation in the Blogosphere: Popular Perceptions • Most bloggers are adult males • Most blogs filter and comment on (news) content on the Web • Mass media (e.g., Glaser 2002; Lasica 2001) • Bloggers (e.g., D. Winer, R. Blood) • Scholarly studies (e.g., Krishnamurty 2002; Park 2003)

10. Participation in the Blogosphere: Empirical Evidence • Gender and age demographics • Estimated for Blog-City, BlogSpot, DiaryLand, LiveJournal, Pitas, Weblogger, Typepad, Xanga (Perseus, Henning 2003) • 56% female, 44% male • 53% under 20; 40% aged 20-29; 7% over 30 • Random samples from blo.gs (Herring, Scheidt, Bonus, & Wright 2004) • 48% female, 52% male • 49% teen and emerging adult (20-25), 51% over 26 • Roughly half female, half (or more) young people

11. Participation in the Blogosphere: Empirical Evidence • Blog genre • 12.9% of random blogs are filters • 70% are personal journals(diaries) (Herring, Scheidt, Bonus, & Wright 2004)

12. Gender and Age of Bloggers

13. Blog Genre and Gender/Age of Bloggers

14. Discourse Style in Blogs • Previous research • A study of entries in 70 adolescent blogs (Huffaker & Calvert 2005) found gender similarities: • Girls and boys made equal use of passive, cooperative, and accommodating language • Both girls’ and boys’ blogs were mostly personal diaries • A study of comments in 20 “A-list” blogs (Kennedy et al. 2005) found gender differences: • Women's comments were more inclusive and expressive • Men's comments were more assertive, competitive, instrumental • Women’s blogs were mostly diaries; men’s mostly political filters • Depends on blogger age: Adolescent vs. adult?

15. Discourse Style in Blogs • Two new studies • Gender and blog genre (Herring & Paolillo, under review) • Gender in adolescent diary blogs (Scheidt, in press) • Show opposite age effect • Suggest gender effect depends on blog genre and type of stylistic feature

16. Study 1: Gender and Blog Genre • Research question • Are gender differences in language style evident when we take into account blog genre (diary or filter)? • Methods • 127 blog entries, balanced for gender and genre, from 44 random blogs • Counted frequencies of stylistic features from Argamon, Koppel et al. (2003; cf. the Gender Genie) • Personal pronouns (hypothesized female) • Noun determiners, quantifiers, its (hypothesized male) • Multivariate analysis using logistic regression

19. Blog Genres • Diary (personal journal) • Focus on events in, and reflections about, blogger’s personal life • Filter • Focus on events and constructs external to the blogger, e.g., politics and religion

20. Example of a diary blog entry Just a quick note to say that (1) I'm completely rested and recharged, (2) I'm excited about generating high volumes of bloggage and (3) I've seemed to develop a pathological proclivity for prevarication (translation: I'm a big fat liar). In truth, I've now had three hours of sleep since yesterday at 6:00 a.m., and I'm warily circling this blog like Abbye approaches an operating vacuum cleaner blocking the way to her crate. (…)

21. Example of a filter blog entry I have never believed in the Bush concept of pre-emptive war. I think that it goes against everything that American Foreign Policy has ever stood for. Bye-bye Washington's farewell speech, bye-bye Wilson's 14 points, and way to completely negate everything that the Declaration of Independence says about foreign policy. The 2002 Strategy marked a whole new direction in American foreign policy that is frankly a little scary. (…)

22. Findings • No gender differences • Genre differences • Diary entries use “female” stylistic features • Filter entries use “male” stylistic features • Conclusion • Argomon et al.’s (2003) stylistic features reflect genre conventions more than gender of writers • BUT: blog genres are “gendered” (cf. Herring et al. 2004; Kennedy et al. 2005)

23. Study 2: Gender in Adolescent Diary Blogs • Research question • Herring & Paolillo’s sample was mostly adults. Adolescents produce mostly diary blogs. Are there gender differences within adolescent diary blogs? • Methods • Content Analysis and ethnography • Opportunity sample: EatonWeb Portal, ‘teen’ category • 12 blogs (6 male & 6 female) • Avg. blogger age = 16.9 years (range = 13-19) • All entries on the first page of each blog were coded for orientation towards audience using Langellier’s (1998) taxonomy

24. Langellier’s taxonomy of Audiences for Personal Narrative Performance (1998) • As a witness testifying to the experience • As a therapist unconditionally supporting emotions • As a cultural theorist assessing the contestation of meanings, values, and identities • As a narrative analyst examining genre, truth, or strategy • A critic appraising the display of performance knowledge and skill

25. Entries by blogger gender Entries = 102 of which 89 could be fully coded

26. Orientation towards audience by blogger gender

27. Findings - Females • Females show a tendency toward • bifurcated orientation • internal in revealing emotions • external in cultural assessment

28. Example: Orienting to emotions The inevitable has taken place. I have once again stepped within the walls of an institution frequented by asylum-deprived eccentrics and egocentrics. But I love it. No longer a freshie... This cannot be happening. No more excuses to be ignorant. No more innocent eyes. No more fun classes...*sniff* Available: http://anonymuse.blogspot.com/

29. Example: Contesting cultural meanings, values, and identities things that piss me off: no. 1...anti-bush protestors i live in the uk, and upon george bush's recent state visit here, hundreds o' thousands of people went out into the streets protesting at his visit, calling him "the most evil man on the planet" and so on... where the hell were these protesters during all the years of oppression that the iraqi people faced? probably eating mcdonalds and driving ford cars to work Available: http://coquet.blogspot.com/

30. Findings - Males • Males show a tendency toward • a factual approach in reporting experience • asking audience to witness the event and notice their skill in performance

31. Example: Orienting to experience So, I went to Dorney Park yesterday. Happy, happy, joy, joy. It wasn't all that bad, actually. I woke up an hour late because I set my alarm for seven p.m. instead of seven a.m., but nevertheless my Dad woke me up at eight. So I hopped in the shower and ran around in order to pick up Vickie and get to the art studio. I put on my new Good Charlotte shirt, so when I got to the studio there was NO WAYI was going to paint. … Anyway, after I was finished at the studio my family and I were off to Dorney Park. Available: http://16crayons.blogspot.com/

32. Example: Displaying performance knowledge and skill Available: http://www.arador.org/

33. Research questions revisited • Gender differences are found in blogs • Adults • Women write more diary blogs, which contain more personal/interpersonal language • Men write filter blogs, which contain more objectified (specified) language • Adolescents • Girls are more self-revealing and socially-conscious in their blog entries • Boys are more factual and seek to display skill/knowledge

34. Findings help explain disparities in previous studies • Previous studies didn’t control for blog genre • But Huffaker & Calvert’s sample of adolescent blogs was probably diaries • and differences are less likely to emerge within the same genre • Previous studies selected disparate features for comparison • Kennedy et al. analyzed discourse-pragmatic features, while Huffaker & Calvert counted word frequencies • But gender differences in English occur more at the discourse-pragmatic than the word choice level • THUS: Huffaker & Calvert studied word frequencies in diaries and found weak gender differences, while Kennedy et al. studied discourse-pragmatic features in diaries and filters and found strong gender differences

35. Explanation for disparities in previous studies (cont.) • Our new findings support this explanation • Herring & Paolillo studied word frequencies, controlling for genre, and found no gender differences • Scheidt studied discourse-pragmatic features and found gender differences, even within the same genre • Taken together, these four studies suggest: • discourse-pragmatic gender differences exist in both adult and adolescent blogs • stylistic (word choice) gender differences are less evident in both adult and adolescent blogs • males and females choose different blog genres (and sub-genres)

36. Research questions revisited (cont.) • Differences favor adult males • Filter blogs, written by men, are assigned greater importance than other blogs • Featured more often in news stories • Favored data for blog studies (especially by male scholars) • Linked to by other bloggers (“A-list”) • But only 12.9% of blogs: a minority elite (Herring, Kouper, Scheidt, & Wright, 2004)

37. Gender and age of bloggers in news stories • In 16 articles about blogs from mainstream U.S. news sources between November 2002 and July 2003: • more males (88%) are mentioned than females (12%) • males are mentioned multiple times in the same article more often than females • males are mentioned earlier in the articles than females • males are more likely to be mentioned by name than females • all 94 males mentioned are adults, except for one adolescent male blogger (Herring, Kouper, Scheidt, & Wright, 2004)

38. Conclusions • Gender socialization carries over into weblog communication • Diaries are traditionally associated with girls and women • Factual reporting (e.g., scientific and news discourse) is traditionally associated with men • Society has traditionally valued men’s writing over women’s writing (Spender 1989)

39. Conclusions (cont.) • Also, gender differences in CMC depend on genre and features analyzed • Word frequencies (style) depend more on genre than gender • Gender explains differences in politeness, assertiveness, etc. (discourse-pragmatics) • Strongest differences may be in what males and females choose to talk about and do online (genre)

40. The following members of the Indiana University (We)blog Research on Genre (BROG) Project contributed to this research • Sabrina Bonus • Susan C. Herring • Inna Kouper • John C. Paolillo • Lois Ann Scheidt • Elijah Wright

41. Questions?

42. This presentation is available at:http://ella.slis.indiana.edu/~herring/bielefeld.ppt Contact us: herring@indiana.edu lscheidt@indiana.edu