March 29, 2000
Since Women Ask for Directions, the Web is Being Remapped
By STEVEN E. BRIER
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demographics of the Internet have changed. Where men once ruled, women are
taking over. They account for about half the Web's audience, various
studies find, and are signing on in greater numbers than men.
"Five years ago, there were not that many women on the Internet," said
Carol Kovac, a vice president at the Watson Research Center at I.B.M.
"Today, we're on there and using it for everyday things."
Women are looking for different information and in different ways from
the traditional male audience, forcing Web site designers to rethink their
products, from the colors used to the tools provided.
"Most women report learning their way around the Internet with the help
of someone," said Juliet Habjan Boisselle, a research librarian at Mount
Holyoke College in South Hadley, Mass., speaking at a recent seminar
discussing women on the Web. "Men report learning solo. In other words,
women will ask directions, men won't."
Women are more pressed in their personal and professional lives, which
also affects their use of the Web. "If you look at women in the United
States," Dr. Kovac said, "most women work outside the home, but still do
most of the housework. They have a second shift. The women on the Web are
using it to enrich their lives and get their work done."
Ms. Habjan Boisselle said many women were further hampered by limited
access to a computer connected to the Internet, logging on through public
libraries and other systems open to the public.
Joan Steltmann, an I.B.M. executive whose job is marketing equipment to
women over the Web, said, "Research shows that women put a higher value on
service, reputation and quality. They also value different kinds of
information; they're not as interested in raw horsepower."
Men, Ms. Steltmann explained, typically want to know the "speeds and
feeds" of the technology that I.B.M. is offering. "For women, our message
is not only the technology, but what it can do for their businesses," she
said. "Women want to know how it will make them more profitable and allow
more work to be done in less time."
I.B.M. provides that sort of information in a special section of its
small-business Web site "where we can communicate directly to women
business owners," Ms. Steltmann said. There are also advice columns from
other women who own businesses along with time-management tips and
technology tools. Although these could help any business owners, they are
aimed at women and geared to their reliance on peers and experts.
In a similar fashion, Hifi.com has introduced Herhifi.com, which sells
the same stereos and televisions as the original Web site but in a
different way. Links to a plain-spoken expert are displayed prominently.
And, instead of listing products in traditional categories like home
theater or video, with emphasis on the gadget, Herhifi.com emphasizes
context, selling products by room, like kitchen and home office.
Sites that cater to women generally have more prominent search tools,
links to chat rooms and forums or other places where the users can ask
questions -- features that female Web users in surveys say more sites
should adopt. "Designers should consider moving from a broadcasting model
of communication to an interactive and dynamic palette where users are
collaborators," Ms. Habjan Boisselle said. "E-mail and forums are
information-seeking and gathering behaviors themselves, not just
socialization."
But as in the real world, not all women in cyberspace want the same
thing, which marketers ignore at their peril. Indeed, Heather Wagner, a
multimedia artist and former designer for HBO, said it is often wrong to
think of female Web users primarily as women. "I don't go to a site as a
woman," Ms. Wagner said. "I go to find out financial information or
something about the Knicks game. So, I'm going as a financial person or a
sports fan."
Newer sites that cater to women tend not to replicate the look or the
content of a supermarket tabloid, something many female-oriented sites did
at first. Susan Geller Ettenheim, the librarian for Femina.com, a
collection of women-oriented Web sites, said newer sites also tightly
integrate design and technology to speed performance. "New sites geared to
women are designed to load quickly and help women navigate clearly to the
information they are seeking," she said.
Many sites for women, like Womenconnect.com and Silicon Salley, take
these lessons to heart, providing quick links on their home pages to
financial advice, for example, and tips on how to craft a resumé, as well
as chat rooms, e-mail and other community-building features, not available
before the Internet created site niches.
But just as there is not a single type of site to serve all men on the
Web, neither is there a single quick fix to attract women online. "With
any site, it is important to have strong design," Ms. Wagner said. "If you
are presenting serious information, it is important to be serious. You
can't just go with pinks and purples."
