Social media and the death of gender

I’m a big fan of TED talks. I just watched one on gender and social media given by Johanna Blakley, director of researcher at the Norman Lear Center at USC.

Blakley argues that social media is killing gender as we know it, an argument that she admits sounds crazy.
Historically, media companies have clung to demographic data to make predictions about what people will like. This has created a popular culture based on presumptions about our age, gender, etc.

Over the past seven years, a lot of research has been done on how the advent of social media has affected the world. Though the same demographic groups still exist, Blakley says they have come to mean less. Social media has given people a way to “escape their demographic boxes.” They are connecting based on their interests and are carving out their own identities online.

Though in some ways it’s creepy that media companies have so much access to our personal information, Blakley points out that it has forced them to respect the individual, whose interests and activities say a lot more about them than their demographic data.

Blakley goes on to discuss how women are the ones driving the social media revolution. Research shows that women outnumber men in use of social media technology in all demographic groups.

What’s the impact on our culture? Will women take over global media? Will all TV shows and films be infused with feminism?

Blakley says no, but she thinks that media companies will start hiring more women. She also thinks that women will kill “the chick flick” and other genres that think about gender simply.

It will be exciting to see what these changes look like within our popular culture in the years to come.