This document analyzes gender patterns in a large online social network with over 10 million users. It finds that both men and women exhibit homophily or a preference for same-gender connections, though this tendency is stronger for women, especially in the early stages of joining the network. Both genders' friend networks and interactions tend to form more single-gender triangles than would be expected by chance. However, users with many friends show a tendency toward heterophily or connecting with other genders. The findings suggest women perceive the presence of other women as important for entering a new online social space, which could explain challenges in addressing the gender gap.

1. Gender patterns in a large oline social network
David Laniado
david.laniado@barcelonamedia.org
with Yana Volkovich, Karolin Kappler and Andreas Kaltenbrunner
SocInfo 2014, Barcelona
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2. Gender homophily
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3. Tuenti, the “Spanish Facebook”
Popular Spain-based, invitation-only social networking site
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4. Dataset
Complete anonymized snapshot of the social network (Dec 2011)
10 million users
500 million friendship relationships
relative friendship order for each user
500 million interactions on users’ walls during 3 months
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5. Building the social environment
1st research question
How does gender affect SNS-adoption?
Do men show a preference to accept invitations from men and
women from women?
Do online ego-networks grow in a gender-biased way?
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6. Joining the social network
Men: slight preference to accept invitation from another man (55%)
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7. Joining the social network
Men: slight preference to accept invitation from another man (55%)
the second is more likely to have the same gender as the first one
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8. Joining the social network
Women: strong preference to accept invitation from a woman (72%)
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9. Joining the social network
Women: strong preference to accept invitation from a woman (72%)
If 1st friend was a woman, the 2nd is a woman with 70% probab.
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10. Friendship order
Women friend more women until about the 150th friend
then they friend more men
Men friend more women only after the 400th friend
fraction of male and female friends given friendship order
0.7
0.65
0.6
0.55
0.5
0.45
0.4
0.35
100 101 102 103 0.3
friendship order
fraction of same gender friends
male friends of male users
female friends of female users
female friends of all users
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11. Gender homophily
2nd research question
Do men and women have similar friendship networks, both in size
and composition?
Is there a preference for connection among same gender users?
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12. Same gender friends
friends avg # men avg # women avg % same gender
men 82 78 51.48%
women 76 85 56.46%
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
0.16
0.14
0.12
0.1
0.08
0.06
0.04
0.02
0
percentage of same gender friends
fraction of users
distribution of the percentage of same gender friends
male friends of male users
female friends of female users
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13. Gender homophily by degree
Users with a smaller circle of friends have more women friends
0.6
0.58
0.56
0.54
0.52
0.5
0.48
0.46
0.44
0.42
0.4
0 200 400 600 800 1000
# friends
fraction of users
fraction of female friends of a user given degree
female friends
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14. Gender homophily by degree, broken down by gender
Tendency to heterophily goes along with bigger ego-networks
also men with less than 25 friends have more women friends
0.66
0.64
0.62
0.6
0.58
0.56
0.54
0.52
0.5
0.48
0.46
0.44
0.42
0.4
0.38
0.36
0.34
0 200 400 600 800 1000
# friends
fraction of users
fraction of the same−gender friends given degree
male friends of male users
female friends of female users
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15. Triangle motifs
3rd research question
How does gender affect the network structure and the formation of
transitive relationships (triangles)?
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16. Triangle motifs by gender
Expected results in a perfectly gender balanced network
assuming same number of users, and same degree distribution
Type of triangle friendship network
expected expected observed
(balanced) (reshuffled)
men only 12.5%
1 woman, 2 men 37.5%
2 women, 1 man 37.5%
women only 12.5%
total 3:64 1010
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17. Triangle motifs by gender
Randomly reshuffle the gender of users having the same degree
account for higher connectivity of women
Type of triangle friendship network
expected expected observed
(balanced) (reshuffled)
men only 12.5% 11.6%
1 woman, 2 men 37.5% 36.6%
2 women, 1 man 37.5% 38.4%
women only 12.5% 13.4%
total 3:64 1010
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18. Triangle motifs by gender
Results observed: more single-gender triangles than expected
Deviation from the reshuffled model is stronger for men (+38%)
than for women (+27%)
Type of triangle friendship network
expected expected observed
(balanced) (reshuffled)
men only 12.5% 11.6% 16.0%
1 woman, 2 men 37.5% 36.6% 32.5%
2 women, 1 man 37.5% 38.4% 34.5%
women only 12.5% 13.4% 17.0%
total 3:64 1010
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19. Triangle motifs by gender (interaction network)
Expected results in a perfectly gender balanced network
assuming same number of users, and same degree distribution
Type of triangle interacion network
expected expected observed
(balanced) (reshuffled)
men only 12.5%
1 woman, 2 men 37.5%
2 women, 1 man 37.5%
women only 12.5%
total 1:24 108
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20. Triangle motifs by gender (interaction network)
Randomly reshuffle the gender of users having the same degree
much higher activity of women (write and receive more messages)
Type of triangle interacion network
expected expected observed
(balanced) (reshuffled)
men only 12.5% 6.2%
1 woman, 2 men 37.5% 28.4%
2 women, 1 man 37.5% 43.3%
women only 12.5% 22.1%
total 1:24 108
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21. Triangle motifs by gender (interaction network)
Observed results: many more single-gender triangles than
expected
Again, deviation from the reshuffled model is much stronger for
men (+60%) than for women (+28%)
Type of triangle interacion network
expected expected observed
(balanced) (reshuffled)
men only 12.5% 6.2% 9.9%
1 woman, 2 men 37.5% 28.4% 24.4%
2 women, 1 man 37.5% 43.3% 37.3%
women only 12.5% 22.1% 28.4%
total 1:24 108
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22. Conclusions
General tendency towards homophily
more accentuated for women
but users with many friends tend to heterophily
Women: stronger homophily in their first steps in the social
network
perceived presence of other women is fundamental to enter a new
digital social environment
) this can explain why it can be hard to face gender gap
Tendency to form gender homogeneous groups
more marked for men
future work: study the composition of larger cliques and clusters
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23. Questions?
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