On gender and social media

Ever stopped to take a minute to ponder about how gender is both structured and structuring? As I stumbled upon a Wiki article on the topic, the subject grew on me and I wanted to understand more.  I find it particularly interesting to note how societal assumptions stay true in one context, yet begin to dissolve in another.

Let me explain:

Food blogs are a perfect example. The way food blogs are produced has a lot to do with the concept of gendered food production. Traditionally, women are associated with home cooking while mostly men populate professional kitchens (well, at least the ones that I’ve been in).

Dedicating effort into a blog in the form of photography and writing encompasses a different meaning than preparing food for oneself, friends or family in relation to gender. Gender becomes less prevalent in the food production process because food is brought out of the private sphere, the feminine space of the kitchen, into the online public sphere.

Here, you can begin to see how blogging through social media is debunking the social construction of gendered food production.

I was thrilled to see this short TED talk from media expert and researcher, Johanna Blakely, on social media and the end of gender stereotypes. While I agree with her view on “shared interest and values are a far more powerful aggregator of human beings than demographic categories,” I find it difficult to believe that social media will eradicate the significance of gender in online spaces. Even if it did, do you think this would change gender-based stereotypes that often connect women in online spheres? I don’t. This should make us wonder about how we classify people. By understanding this, we can move forward to strive towards a gender-neutral community offline.

When media and journalists stop using old demographics and start looking at the trends online as a whole, what effect do you think this will have if the majority of the users that are being studied are women? Will brands, T.V. shows and movies be more targeted towards the interest of the female population? What type of impact do you think this will have on “old media” and our society in general?

What would YOU do?

Timothy's Coffee social media PR nightmare is a recent case filled with room for discussion.

The Facebook page gives an inside look at how the situation was handled and the public's response.

Discuss some of the major mistakes made in this case. What do you think Timothy's could have done to rectify the problem and their subsequent actions? How could the company have been better prepared to manage the chaos of an uncontrollable social web?

Looking forward to reading your thoughts on this!

Why should I care about social media?

What better way to begin CDPR 101 than by sharing this oh-so-wonderful slideshow?

What is social media? Why should I care?

So, what'd you think?

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