CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 379Impact of Technology on AdolescentsGender, Feminism, and MediaMedia and Digital Communication

Men are from Mars, women are from Venus? Examining gender differences in self-presentation on social networking sites

Haferkamp, Nina, Eimler, Sabrina C., Papadakis, Anna-Margarita, Kruck, Jana Vanessa·2012·Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking
DOI 10.1089/cyber.2011.0151
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

Psychological research on gender differences in self-presentation has already revealed that women place higher priority on creating a positive self-presentation, while men are less concerned about the image they present in face-to-face (ftf) communication. Nowadays, with the extensive use of new media, self-presentation is no longer so closely tied to ftf situations, but can also take place in the online world. Specifically, social networking sites (SNS), such as Facebook or MySpace, offer various features such as profile pictures, groups, and virtual bulletin boards with which users can create elaborated online representations of themselves. What remains open is whether this virtual self-presentation on SNS is subject to gender differences. Based on studies emphasizing gender-related differences in Internet communication and behavior in general, it can be assumed that men and women have different motives regarding their SNS usage as well. A multimethodological study, combining results of an online survey and a content analysis of 106 user profiles, assessed users' diverse motives for participating in SNS in general, and their use of specific profile elements or self-presentation in particular. In this sample of StudiVZ users, women tend to be more likely to use SNS for comparing themselves with others and for searching for information. Men, on the other hand, are more likely to look at other people's profiles to find friends. Moreover, women tend to use group names for their self-presentation and prefer adding portrait photos to their profiles, while men choose full-body shots.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1089/cyber.2011.0151

Cites

40 of 40 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Females are more likely to use SNSs for comparing themselves with others.

    “Prior research has shown that females spent more time looking at the SNS pages of same-sex others (e.g., McAndrew & Jeong, 2012), are more likely to use SNSs for comparing themselves with others (e.g., Haferkamp, Eimler, Papadakis, & Kruck, 2012), and report greater levels of body dissatisfaction (e.g., Bearman et al., 2006).”

    From The reciprocal and indirect relationships between passive Facebook use, comparison on Facebook, and adolescents' body dissatisfaction (2017) · cites this paper as Haferkamp et al., 2012

  • Most studies on SNSs focus predominantly on its affordances for communication, such as impression management and formation, and not many have examined the darker side of SNSs use, particularly why adolescents use SNSs excessively and how addictive tendencies form.

    “First, most studies on SNSs focus predominantly on its affordances for communication, such as impression management and formation (Haferkamp, Eimler, Papadakis, & Kruck, 2012;Van Der Heide, Angelo, & Schumaker, 2012).Not many have examined the darker side of SNSs use (Arcy, Gupta, Tarafdar, & Turel, 2014;Tarafdar, Gupta, & Turel, 2013), particularly in the context of unpacking why adolescents use”

    From Till logout do us part? Comparison of factors predicting excessive social network sites use and addiction between Singaporean adolescents and adults (2017) · cites this paper as Haferkamp et al., 2012

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Haferkamp, N., Eimler, S. C., Papadakis, A.-M., & Kruck, J. V.
Affiliations
  • Technische Universität Dresden (DE)
  • University of Duisburg-Essen (DE)
  • University of Münster (DE)
Corresponding author
Haferkamp, Nina
ORCID
Eimler, Sabrina C.
Venue
Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Published
2011-12
Volume
15
Issue
2
Pages
91-98
ISSN
  • 2152-2715 (ISSN-L)
  • 2152-2723
DOI
10.1089/cyber.2011.0151
OpenAlex
W2014764430
Cited by
378
References
39
Citations by year
2026: 7 · 2025: 22 · 2024: 26 · 2023: 34 · 2022: 35 · 2021: 34 · 2020: 44 · 2019: 32 · 2018: 30 · 2017: 26 · 2016: 38 · 2015: 19 · 2014: 16 · 2013: 14 · 2012: 1
FWCI
34.16
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license (tdm)
Locations
  • Cyberpsychology Behavior and Social Networking (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
  • Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Gender, Feminism, and Media
  • Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Networks and Communications › Media and Digital Communication
Keywords
gender differences, self-presentation, social networking sites, online self-presentation, StudiVZ, Facebook, MySpace, motivations for social media use, self-comparison
MeSH terms
Female, Humans, Male, Motivation, Self Concept, Sex Factors, Social Perception, Young Adult, Social Networking, Social Media

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review