How wired women tap the collective intelligence

MIAMI BEACH, USA: Connected technology is giving women around the world new social, emotional and economic powers, findings released today from an MSLGROUP and Dot Complicated research study shows, yet that same connected technology is creating key modern challenges for these 'wired women'.

The study, titled The Social Wisdom of Wired Women around the World highlights how wired women tap the collective intelligence of other women for advice and information and nurture personal relationships in ways that were not possible before.

Emotionally, they view themselves as more in control of their lives. Economically, they are empowered by access to a global marketplace and an information-driven shopping experience, said a study report.

But the study found that women are as likely to value the benefits of the connected technology in their lives as they are to be frustrated by it: less than half the women surveyed believe technology has a positive influence on their family.

Key findings:

* Women follow distinct "paths to purchase" in social media that vary by product category and market. When purchasing goods and services, wired women around the world turn to social and digital media as a source of information at nearly double the rate of traditional media, no matter if the item is purchased on- or offline.

* Women in China prefer mobile technology to manage key tasks more than women elsewhere. Ownership of tablets among women surveyed in China is twenty percentage points higher than in the other markets combined. An impressive ninety-one percent of Chinese women surveyed have smartphones, creating a twenty-one percentage point gap over all studied markets combined.

In China, 68 per cent of wired women prefer their smartphones or tablets to pay bills online. Not so in the rest of the world: Women surveyed in the U.S. (64 per cent), U.K. (60 per cent) and Brazil (53 per cent) prefer their computers instead.

* Women feel going online has improved their lives ... mostly. According to Randi Zuckerberg, founder/CEO of Zuckerberg Media, technology can complicate men's lives, the survey suggests that wired women are indeed frustrated about the havoc that technology and social media can cause in their lives.

* Social media is causing women to draw new lines in their personal lives. While couples in a relationship share friends and social relationships, they don't necessarily share passwords.

Only 34 percent of wired women share passwords to an email account with a spouse or a significant other, and even fewer (28 percent) share social media log-ins. Additionally, 44 per cent of wired women in Brazil and 42 per cent of wired women in China monitor their child's online behavior, while only 28 per cent of those in the U.S. and a surprisingly low 18 per cent of women surveyed in the U.K. do the same.

* The misuse of technology and social media concerns women around the world. Nearly a third of the women questioned worldwide say texting while driving is a major source of frustration or complexity in life today. But cultural differences come into play when it's a question of using mobile phones at the family dinner table: In Brazil and the UK this is a significant source of frustration for wired women, while in China just one in ten women feel it's an issue.