Are heterosexual Internet users antisocial?

Put another way (and paraphrasing the old Breck’s television campaign), do straights have less fun? Well, online, at least, maybe so…. (here)

The results of a recent survey commissioned by Witeck-Combs Communications and conducted by Harris Interactive suggest that online social network sites are more popular with gay, lesbian and bisexual (GLB) Internet users than they are with heterosexual Web surfers.

An online survey of over 2,500 US adults (ages 18 and older) showed that, proportionately, GLB Internet users visit social networking sites Friendster and MySpace more often in an average week than do heterosexual Internet usrs, with Facebook used about equally by the two groups.

Additionally, 27% of GLB Internet users reported that they visit YouTube for an hour or so each week, compared with 22% of heterosexual respondents.

GLB respondents to the survey were also slightly more likely to visit Craigslist, with 20% spending around an hour each week there, compared with 13% of heterosexual Internet users.

Overall, GLB Internet users spend significantly more time online than their heterosexual counterparts, according to the survey results. Excluding e-mail usage, nearly twice as many GLB respondents (32%) said they are online between 24 and 168 hours a week, compared with only 18% of heterosexual Internet users who reported the same.

“We have consistently benchmarked strong online usage by the gay community,” said Bob Witeck, CEO of Witeck-Combs. “Social networks also appear to be second nature for the gay and lesbian consumer [and] that translates directly into significant market opportunities.”

For more on social networking site opportunities, read eMarketer’s Social Network Marketing: Ad Spending Update report.

No comments: