Women surfing for work, surfing for play
(straitstimes)
Updated: 2004-07-09 10:36

Just 10 years ago, women made up just 10 per cent of the online population in America. Marketers were, of course, already thinking then about how to reach this segment of online users.

More and more women take to logging onto the Internet for both work and relax. [file photo]

Today, it would already seem quaint for them to ask: 'What do women do on the Internet?'

It would also seem quaint to say: 'You surf like a woman.'

WOMEN WHO LOVE THEIR MICE The ST Interactive's poll among women about their online activities drew 46 participants. The following online activities were named as participants' most important: Getting news/info -25 women Emailing - 15 Blogging - 3 Shopping - 1 Auctions - 0 Downloading music - 1 Gaming - 0 Chatrooms - 0 Other - 1 The following online activities were named as participants' second most important: Getting news/info - 16 Emailing - 15 Blogging - 5 Downloading music - 5 Shopping - 1 Auctions - 1 Gaming - 1 Chatrooms - 0 Other - 1 How big is the Internet in your life? 'Couldn't live without it' - 12 'It's major' - 18 'It's just there' - 14 'It's not important' - 2 How often do you log on? More than once a day - 30 Once a day - 10 3 to 6 times/week - 5 1 to 2 times/week - 0 Less than once a month - 1

That's probably a woolly notion because many women get into a wide range of activities online. Those who use the Internet to do work-related research would also very probably use it later in the day for play - be it to buy something from an online site or to check out hobby websites.

This doesn't even begin to exhaust the list of what women do online.

The Straits Times Interactive conducted a poll on this Women's webspecial recently. Nearly 50 STI readers responded. Interviews were done with another half a dozen women aged between 17 and 44.

Their answers give a rough sketch of what women are up to when they launch the browsers in their machines. (See left box.)

In Singapore, 34 per cent of women are online, according to figures from the World Internet Project, an international poll conducted by the UCLA Center for Communication Policy. This is slightly lower than in developed countries in the West, where the percentage ranges between nearly half to well over 60 per cent of women. In Korea, easily Asia's most wired nation, 53.8 per cent of women surf the Internet.

In the STI poll, respondents said that getting news/info is big with them, followed by emailing.

Over half of those who responded to the poll named getting news and info as their prime use for the Internet. Another 16 women named this as their second most important use of the net.

For Ms Janice Lee, a marketing consultant for technology companies in her mid-20s, the Internet is absolutely essential on the job. She uses it extensively to trawl for information on the IT industry.

And while pre-university student Christine Tee, 17, turns to the net to research her term papers, new dog-owner and bank officer Wendy Tan gets tips on how to handle her difficult new friend - from toilet training to obedience classes.

Ms Karen Au-Yong, a 30-something communications manager, uses the net to save time running errands or hours on the phone talking to ignorant sales or service people.

She looks up catalogues before doing online shopping. She checks flight availability, weather, maps, foreign exchange rates and places to visit or shop before travelling.

'I guess I do use the net a lot and it's very convenient as everything is within easy reach,' she says. 'But sometimes, it is frustrating when you can't find the info that you want - especially with sites that are outdated or not very user-friendly. A website is only as good as its content and its usability.'

Email. This cannot fail to make the list. Thirty out of the 46 women polled named it as the No. 1 or 2 most important online activity.

Just think how hard-pressed you'd be now to name more than a few people who don't have an email address. And just think about how much more likely people are nowadays to swop email addresses along with their cellphone numbers. Neither of these details were exchanged back in the days of snail mail and when telephones weren't this portable.

Businesswoman and mother of two Amy Wong, 42, says her emailing ranges from quick one-liners to arrange for business meetings to longish, personal exchanges to update friends halfway around the world.

'It's like talking to them in real time,' she says.

What else do women do online?

They shop - and most certainly, not just for household cleaning fluids like the 1950s housewife whose sole mission in life is to get the home sparkling clean and dinner cooked by the time the Man gets home.

The women of today buy clothes, books, music, hobby stuff and take part in online auctions. This follows from the fact that female online users range from teenagers to women at the top of their careers - women who are likely to have more than just household cleanliness on their minds.

While there are avid online gamers among women, the men are probably keener on this. None of the 46 polled listed gaming as the most important online activity for them; only one named it as the second-most important.

Blogs appear quite popular with women - whether they are the ones maintaining these online outpourings of thoughts or just plain nosy about other people's thoughts.

Eight out of the 46 polled named it as their most important or second most important online activity.

Almost 40 per cent of those polled described the Internet as 'major' in their lives. Another one quarter said the 'net was close to something they couldn't do without.

Ms Lee says: 'I log onto the Internet ALL the time. Practically 24-7. I can't live without it and am a total geek. It's sad.'

At least she has some say about how often she indulges herself. JC 1 student Christine wails: 'Like I tell mom: One of the first things I will get when I get my own house will be a laptop with a broadband Internet connection.

'Mom has started regulating our usage of the 'net because of the massive bills, so I use it in college more often now - about five to six times a week at around 40 minutes each time!'

Some women refuse to be sucked fully into the habit.

Ms Penny Chan, a 40-something club manager, claims she can live without the 'net, especially the false representation and outright lying one finds in chatrooms.

She adds: 'You don't really get a true picture of those you meet in chatrooms. Most times, they try too hard to impress and that is tiring.

'And eight in 10 are so foul-mouthed too.'

Ms Tan the dog-owner also says the 'net isn't that big with her. She quips: 'What I really cannot live without is my handphone.'

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