Gender and image sharing on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and WhatsApp in the UK. Hobbying alone or filtering for friends?
| Date | 20 November 2017 |
| Published date | 20 November 2017 |
| Pages | 702-720 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/AJIM-04-2017-0098 |
| Author | Mike Thelwall,Farida Vis |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Information behaviour & retrieval,Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance,Information management |
Gender and image sharing
on Facebook, Twitter,
Instagram, Snapchat and
WhatsApp in the UK
Hobbying alone or filtering for friends?
Mike Thelwall
School of Mathematics and Computing, University of Wolverhampton,
Wolverhampton, UK, and
Farida Vis
Information School, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
Abstract
Purpose –Despite the on going shift from text-based to image-based communication in the social web,
supported by the affordances of smartphones, little is known about the new image sharing practices. Both gender
and platformtype seem likely to be important, but it is unclearhow. The paper aims to discussthese issues.
Design/methodology/approach –This paper surveys an age-balanced sample of UK Facebook, Twitter,
Instagram, Snapchat and WhatsApp image sharers with a range of exploratory questions about platform use,
privacy, interactions, technology use and profile pictures.
Findings –Females shared photos more often overall and shared images more frequently on Snapchat, but
males shared more images on Twitter, particularly for hobbies. Females also tended to have more privacy-
related concerns but were more willing, in principle, to share pictures of their children. Females also interacted
more through others’images by liking and commenting on them. Both genders used supporting apps but in
different ways: females applied filters and posted to albums whereas males retouched photos and used photo
organising apps. Finally, males were more likely to be alone in their profile pictures.
Practical implications –Those designing visual social web communication strategies to reach out to users
should consider the different ways in which platforms are used by males and females to optimise their
message for their target audience.
Social implications –There are clear gender and platform differences in visual communication strategies.
Overall, males may tend to have more informational and females more relationship-based, skills or needs.
Originality/value –This is the first detailed survey of electronic image sharing practices and the first to
systematically compare the current generation of platforms.
Keywords Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, WhatsApp, Image sharing
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Visual communication through image sharing is an important modern phenomenon.
Exchanging or publishing photographs is quick, simple and usually cheap or free with a
smartphone and appropriate apps. In the US and UK, most internet users were posting
photos online by 2013 (Duggan, 2013; Dutton et al., 2013). In 2016, a quarter of all US adults
used image-oriented sites Instagram (28 per cent) or Pinterest (26 per cent), with similar
numbers using Twitter (24 per cent), and two thirds (68 per cent) of USA adults using
Facebook (Greenwood et al., 2016). Posting photos is a common activity on the last two sites,
even though this was not their original purpose. Despite the frequency of image sharing,
relatively little is known about its core attributes: the types of images shared and the types
of interactions that they spawn. Moreover, despite evidence of gender differences in social
Aslib Journal of Information
Management
Vol. 69 No. 6, 2017
pp. 702-720
© Emerald PublishingLimited
2050-3806
DOI 10.1108/AJIM-04-2017-0098
Received 21 April 2017
Revised 30 June 2017
Accepted 7 August 2017
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/2050-3806.htm
This paper was funded by ESRC Grant ES/M000648/1.
702
AJIM
69,6
web use (discussed below) and the perceived importance of the visual, little is known about
the role of gender within social media image sharing. This is an important omission for
social researchers seeking to understand modern communication styles, for marketers
seeking to generate successful online campaigns or communication strategies, as well as for
medical and other professionals assessing the influence of social media strategies on mental
health or general well-being.
Social media use has evolved over time as new practices take advantage of innovations
in smartphones and web technology. Novel interaction genres have emerged, adapted and
become ubiquitous. General social network sites like Facebook and the video sharing site
YouTube are longstanding examples of popular sites that are embedded into many daily
lives and represent a new style of communication and information consumption
(Boyd, 2014). Web image sharing has also evolved from requiring a specific site, such as
Picasa (formed in 2002), Photobucket (formed in 2003) or Flickr (formed in 2004).
For example, Flickr focusses on images and is primarily for organising and displaying
pictures (Nov et al., 2008). In contrast, general purpose social websites like Facebook
(fully public in 2006) and Twitter (founded 2006 –integrated image sharing via
TwitPic 2008-2014), embed image sharing support as a seamless part of a wider
communication experience for all users. Newer image-based sites include Instagram for the
rapid informal posting of all types of images, and Snapchat for displaying photos for a
limited time. Despite this variety, there is little empirical evidence of the different practices
that may have emerged within each platform.
This paper assesses gender differences in patterns of use for five social media sites:
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and WhatsApp. These were chosen for having
substantial numbers of users and image sharing features. Two are intended mainly for
image sharing (Snapchat and Instagram) but are very different from the first generation of
image sharing sites. In 2016 in the US 79 per cent of online adults used Facebook, 32 per cent
used Instagram, 24 per cent used Twitter and 29 per cent used WhatsApp or something
similar. In the USA in 2003, 9 per cent of smartphone users had a Snapchat app and
18 per cent had an Instagram app. Facebook (social networking), Twitter (instant
messaging) and WhatsApp (smartphone only) were chosen as different types of widely
adopted platforms used for image sharing. Snapchat (temporary image sharing) and
Instagram (long term image sharing and image editing) were chosen as different types of
modern popular image sharing site. The purpose is exploratory: to gain broad insights into
the role of gender and platform in different types of social web image sharing using a set of
key aspects. This can show if the platforms support similar behaviours or if there are
important underlying differences. The focus is on sharing frequency, profile pictures,
privacy, interaction and technology use. This will inform marketers and other professionals
that need to understand image sharing today and will enable future studies to be more
targeted. The UK was chosen as an early user of electronic technology and an area with little
social web image sharing research. Findings from the UK may therefore both suggest likely
general trends and illuminate any obvious contrasts with the USA. As reviewed below, there
have been no previous in-depth surveys about image sharing, although some have asked
general questions or surveyed students about a single platform and some studies have
examined specific contexts in detail. This paper therefore addresses a large knowledge gap
about an important current social phenomenon.
2. Background
This section discusses insights intosocial web image sharing from multipleperspectives and
then focusses on the main analysis themes to lead into the research questions.
As additional background information about the two image-specific platforms, in 2013,
similar numbers offemale (10 per cent) and male (9 per cent) mobile phone owners in theUS
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Gender and
image sharing
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