RUNNING HEAD: FEMINIZATION SOCIAL MEDIA 1

The Feminization of Social Media

Elena Roth
Illinois State University
FEMINIZATION SOCIAL MEDIA 2

Abstract
Often referred to as the “pink ghetto,” public relations and social media management had been a

field predominantly occupied by women (Chaney, 2009; Levinson, 2015). While the hiring data

may indicate these fields as predominately female or “feminized,” this study uncovers through

semi-structured interviews that social media is a feminine space, curated by, and for women. In

addition, this study also explores how social media managers view the roles they inhabit, the

platforms and audiences they manage, and their perception of social media content through a

feminine lens.

Keywords: feminine, feminist theory, gendered assumptions, public relations, social media,
social media management
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Introduction

Ellen, a downtown development specialist for a central Illinois city, did not find it

surprising that the audience of the social media platforms she manages is predominantly female.

When asked about the audience breakdown for the social media platforms she manages, Ellen

expressed that “the last time I looked we were probably trending about 70% female, which is

pretty typical for social media being more of a feminine space then it is, you know, a masculine

space.”

For centuries, females have been viewed as more nurturing than males, assuming the role

of homemaker and caretaker of children. Females are considered more likely to demonstrate

proficiency in fostering relationships (Rodriguez de Rubio & Kiser, 2015). Building

relationships and connecting with audiences is the main goal of social media managers.

Relationship-building is also a core strategy of public relations, which often is the overarching

job of a social media manager.

Results of a study performed by PayScale (2020) that includes 947 responses found that

the social media manager profession is 78.4% female, with 0.5% preferring to not identify as

female or male. The field of public relations, and by association, social media management have

become feminized. Does this feminization extend beyond the roles these women inhibit?

“Feminization” refers to when there is an increase in the concentration of women within a

specific occupation (Hesmondhalgh & Baker, 2015). Women are relegated to spaces where

relationships, rather than more common organizational outcomes such as productivity or profits,

are the goal. This minimizes their perceived contribution and limits their promotion potential.

By researching this topic, I aim to make the problematic, and sometimes invisible, limits

placed on those employed in the social media profession visible. Moreover, I am to analyze
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through a feminine lens the role social media managers have played in transforming social media

into a feminine space, and how they have been impacted by the perceived feminization of their

social media platforms.

Literature Review

In recent years, digital media have shifted away from traditional media towards favoring

emerging forms of marketing – influencer marketing, social networking sites, and content

creation (Duffy & Schwartz, 2018). Instead of focusing all marketing efforts on traditional media

like television and print media, organizations are adjusting their focus, both in strategy and

media choice, to utilize social media platforms where specific targeting and relationship building

among key audiences can take place.

The emerging social media profession has also created more job opportunities for

individuals within the fields of marketing and public relations. Fifteen years ago, if a working

professional said their job title was “social media manager,” they probably would have been met

with confusion (Davis, 2013). Being an expert in social media has only become a sought after

skill by employers across many industries in recent years. As the years pass, technological

advancements and increased social media usage have created the need for positions solely

devoted to managing organizations’ social networking sites. Organizations recognize this

untapped area of marketing and public relations and have begun to utilize social media platforms

to increase brand awareness, to promote products, to build relationships, and to interact with

consumers.

Pew Research Center began tracking Americans’ use of social media in 2005. At that

time, only 5% of American adults used at least one social media platform. In six years, this

number rose to half of all Americans. By 2018, this number had risen to 69% of Americans using
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social media platforms (Pew, 2018). A survey performed in 2019 concluded that a majority of

the results from 2018 remain unchanged (Perrin & Anderson, 2019). From this data, it is evident

the number of people using social media has steadily increased over the years and is only now

beginning to plateau.  

Throughout the rise of social media, women have remained as the top users of social

media platforms, while men have only recently increased their overall usage. Andreas

Bernstrom, the CEO of Rebtel, a mobile VoIP company, stated, "Our findings show that men

tend to lag behind women when it comes to communicating with others through social media”

(Emerson, 2017, para. 2). The Pew Research Center reported that 73% of women in the U.S. use

social media, compared to 65% of men (2018). In 2015, females reported using platforms such as

Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram more than males (Anderson, 2015; Delane, 2016; Young,

2014). Males reported using platforms such as LinkedIn, Twitter, reddit, and Tumblr more often

than females (Anderson, 2015). In addition to using different platforms more, females and males

have indicated different motivations for using social media (Kimbrough, Guadagno, Muscanel,

& Dill, 2013). Females used social media to connect with people and build relationships, while

males used it as a tool to find or share information (Pew, 2018). In 2018, the most popular social

media platform among Americans by far was Facebook at 68%. Platforms such as Twitter,

Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest and LinkedIn all held similar levels of usage between the ranges

of 20%-35%. A majority of Americans use social media platforms daily, providing organizations

with endless opportunities to reach consumers within their target markets.

Social media management has evolved to become a prominent function for public

relations professionals. According to data gathered from Public Relations Society of America

(PRSA) from members in the public relation field, "approximately 43% of public relations
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professionals spend anywhere between 11%-25% of their daily working time to manage blogs

and other social media accounts" (Lee, Place, & Smith, 2017, p. 192). PRSA members also

agreed that social media has improved their ability to practice public relations. The ability to

interact with the public in a targeted manner allows public relations professionals to deliver

targeted, strategic information that is valuable to them (Lee et al., 2017; Motion, Heath, and

Leitch, 2015). Social media assist masspersonal communication, providing a direct link from an

organization to their audience.

Relationship Building in Public Relations

Connecting with an audience is the primary role of public relations practitioners and by

association, social media managers. Practitioners connect with their audience through

relationship-building. This is a long-established concept that scholars have agreed is at the core

of the profession (Theunissen, 2019). Practitioners use nuanced tactics to connect with their

audience and provide information that resonates with them (Lee et al., 2017; Motion et al.,

2015). The conceptualization of relationship-building and how it occurs has largely been

analyzed from a macro-level, but not an interpersonal level. According to Ferguson (2018), there

are four statuses possible for the relationship between an organization and the public: both

organization and public satisfied; organization satisfied, public unsatisfied; organization

unsatisfied, public satisfied; and both organization and public unsatisfied. Other variables related

to the status of a relationship are how much power each holds, if there are shared goals between

both parties, and whether both mutually understand each other. Conversely, results from a study

by Cardwell, Williams, and Pyle (2016) indicate that beneficial internal relationships lead to a

practitioner’s success in building external relationships with key publics. This means it is not a

clear-cut list of variables for a public relations practitioner or social media manager to consider
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when building relationships with an external audience. Consequently, this means that

relationship-building on social media is not a simple matter. It is up to the public relations

practitioner or social media manager to determine what variables are most important to connect

with their audience.

Social Media

The popularity of certain platforms, user demographics, and habits of users has already

been discussed, but there is a need for further explanation regarding what social media are and

their function. Carr and Hayes (2015) define social media as "Internet-based channels that allow

users to opportunistically interact and selectively self-present, either in real-time or

asynchronously, with both broad and narrow audiences who derive value from user-generated

content and the perception of interaction with others" (p. 50). Social media platforms allow for

synchronous messaging, but "the channel is persistently available whether a user is active or not,

facilitating disentrained communication" (p. 50). Essentially, users can connect with one another

or engage with content at any time. This feature is what sets social media platforms apart from

other types of web-based, synchronous applications (Carr & Hayes, 2015).  

Social media facilitate the sharing of information, the forming of communities, and the

development of relationships. As mentioned in the definition, users can choose how to self-

present with their audience through user-generated or self-curated content (Carr & Hayes, 2015).

Users can also communicate with other users through the use of or lack of use of lightweight

cues called PDAs. Whether it is called a like, a favorite, or an upvote, PDAs communicate

interaction with the user's message. The absence of PDAs speaks just as loudly as an abundance

of PDAs, indicating a user's audience does not resonate with the message they shared. It is
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possible for social media users to cultivate parasocial relationships with celebrities or political

figures because of the ability to interact with their messages or content. 

Going even further, users have greater access to organizations and brands through social

media (Bossio, McCosker, Milne, Golding, & Albarran-Torres, 2019). This relationship is

reciprocal, allowing both parties to communicate with one another on an interpersonal level via a

masspersonal tool. Social media for organizational communication has its positive and negative

attributes. While organizations "benefit from the perceived authenticity and engagement offered

by social media, they also face unique challenges in managing constant content creation and 24/7

audience engagement" (Bossio et al., 2019, p. 95). Organizations have come to increasingly rely

on human intermediaries to manage this constant demand.

Occupational Segregation

Social media managers make connecting with audiences possible. When discussing social

media management and the field of public relations, the specific demographic being analyzed is

gender. The Women's Media Center (WMC) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising

awareness of women within the media industry. According to a study done by the WMC in 2015

regarding the status of women in the United States media, women are not positioned equally to

men in jobs where opinions matter. Within the media and culture industries, there is a tendency

for men to hold senior executive and creative positions, while women are relegated to

promotional and service roles where a primary responsibility is relationship-building

(Hesmondhalgh & Baker, 2015).

Prevailing stereotypical attributes of women may influence occupational segregation.

Occupational segregation is the distribution of employees within occupations based on specific

demographics. The stereotype for women describes them as inherently more caring, supportive,
FEMINIZATION SOCIAL MEDIA 9

and organized, as well as being better communicators. Men are stereotyped as "more creative

because they are less bound by rules" (Hesmondhalgh & Baker, 2015, p. 23). Wharton (2012)

names public relations, systems analysis, bartending, advertising, and insurance adjusting as a

few examples of these “feminized” occupations. “Feminization” refers to when there is an

increase in the concentration of women within a specific occupation (Hesmondhalgh & Baker,

2015). Evidence has shown that women have access to more opportunities in organizations that

exhibit greater formality in the hiring process rather than relying on practices such as “word-of-

mouth” and “contacts culture” (Thanki & Jefferys, 2007). Unfortunately, the creative industry is

notorious for being informal and flexible, two elements that leaves women at a disadvantage.

This does not necessarily mean women end up stuck in social media roles, but these elements do

create more obstacles for women to overcome in order to progress further in their careers.

It is possible there is something greater at work within these organizations that causes

women to be left at a disadvantage to men within the same industry. Radical feminist theory was

born from the women’s liberation movement in 1960s. Women were dissatisfied with the sexism

present in both new left and civil rights movements. Within this theory, women are viewed as an

oppressed class in society where “gender is a social construction that ensures women’s

subordination to men” (Grosser et al., 2019, p.324). There must be further research done in order

to uncover if there is a correlation between the hiring process and women being at an inherent

disadvantage when seeking roles in this industry.  

Occupational Segregation within Social Media Management

In the news industry, social media managers and public relations professionals take on a

supporting role for journalists by giving them access to information or facilitating opportunities.

The social media profession is one of the few areas within the news industry that is
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predominantly female (PayScale, 2020). Social media and public relations are often referred to

as “pink collar” or the “pink ghetto” by other areas of the news industry. The phrase “pink

collar” gives social media positions a reputation as “fluff” jobs for women in their twenties

(Chaney, 2009; Levinson, 2015). The work done by both of these professions is intended to be

invisible. Due to this, women in this position rarely receive credit for their hard work. Invisibility

is a recurring gender theme in the literature, tying the situation women are currently in with the

traditional view of a woman’s role in the home. This stereotype is also echoed in radical feminist

theory. Women are underrepresented in the most desirable and highly rewarded jobs (Charles &

Grusky, 2004). 

Work performed by social media managers is often marginalized despite the fact that

these individuals often hold entire organizations’ reputations within their hands (Hempel, 2018).

Their work is sometimes critical to the success of the organization. Results from research done

by Bridgen (2011) and Keating (2016) suggest that the current perception of social media work

is that it requires more effort in terms of time and emotion work than other areas of public

relations and marketing, which further enforces existing gender inequalities. Amy King, the chair

of VIDA: Women in Literary Arts, believes that "women tend to do the behind-the-scenes work

that is unrecognized or unappreciated" because they are more willing to than men (Levinson,

2015, para. 6). For this effort, women receive little reward for what can be an extremely taxing

job. Previous research has examined gendered assumptions about women’s ability to grow

relationships as one of the main reasons women gravitate to this field. These gendered

assumptions directly correlate with the idea that "domestic associations can carry over to

stigmatize women's creative work" (Conor, Gill, & Taylor, 2015, p. 14). Little attention has been

paid to these existing gendered dimensions of digital labor (Arcy, 2016).

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According to Duffy (2017), digital labor scholars tend to overlook the importance of

gender relations within social media. Social media's foundation is built on self-expression, and

there is a tendency for these expressions to be gendered. There is an idea enforced by some

digital media scholars that women produce and promote content "just for the fun of it" (p. 48). In

actuality most women "approach social media creation with strategy, purpose, and aspirations of

career success" (p. 48). When individuals fail to recognize this, existing gendered assumptions

are further amplified. The idea that anyone can 'do social media' is common and often minimizes

the extensive work social media managers perform. This assumption supports the presence of

radical feminist theory within social media and the social media profession because of how it

belittles the importance of both. 

Occupational Segregation within Public Relations

Despite females dominating the public relations industry jobs at 75%, only 20% of

women hold leadership positions (Lee et al., 2017). There is also a growing gap in power and

salary between men and women practitioners. This may be due to "gendered divisions of labor

and gendered role prescriptions that continue to exist" (p. 192). Previous research has been

inconclusive in trying to answer the question of whether or not the influx of social media in the

public relations industry has provided women with more opportunities for advancement and

equality in the workforce. Data gathered by Lee et al. (2017) from Public Relations Society of

America (PRSA) members in the public relation field examined these individuals' views on

perceptions of power, social media expertise, and experience in their profession. This data

indicated social media might serve as the equalizing force to close the gap between gendered

power perceptions. However, there is still a need for more research on gender inequality and

social media within public relations. 

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Feminist theory in public relations has long addressed the gendered role prescriptions and

inequalities of the public relations industry (Lee et al., 2017). As mentioned before, this theory

examines how women have been socialized to exhibit stereotypically feminine traits, while men

have been socialized to exhibit stereotypically masculine traits (Grosser et al., 2019; Lee et al.,

2017). Society has placed men and women in these gendered roles since the beginning of

civilization (Grosser et al., 2019). The glaring inequalities between these gendered roles emerged

in the wake of women reaching majority status within the public relations field in the 1970s (Lee

et al., 2017). In turn, public relations has been stereotyped as a “pink ghetto” or “velvet ghetto”

in which women hold the majority of technical positions but with reduced status, income, and

authority (Cline et al., 2001; Creedon, 1991; Krider & Ross, 1997; Lee et al., 2017; Toth &

Cline, 1989).

While hiring data would indicate that social media management is a predominantly

female, or feminized, field, it remains unclear if these managers actually view social media

platforms as feminine spaces, curated by, and for, women.  Therefore, I sought to explore how

social media managers view the roles they inhabit, the platforms and audiences they manage, and

their perception of social media content through a feminine lens. To allow for full exploration of

varying roles, experiences, and contexts, in-depth semi-structure interviews were conducted.

These interviews were formatted to allow participants flexibility in their responses and for

interviewer follow-up, and served to answer the following research questions.

RQ1: What considerations do social media managers make in creating social media

content?

RQ2: In what ways, if any, are social media managers impacted by the perceived

feminization of their social media platforms?

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RQ3: Do practitioners perceive social media as a feminized field?

Methods

Participants

For this structured interview study, participants were selected through a convenience

sample via social media and email. I posted on Facebook and LinkedIn requesting social media

professionals to email or direct message me if they were interested in participating. Once initial

interest was expressed and qualifications were checked, the participant was emailed to schedule

an interview. Once a date was set, I sent them an informed consent document for them to review

prior to the interview. Additional qualified participants were recommended to me by my

committee chairperson. For these participants, I extended an offer to participate via email and

proceeded from there with scheduling interviews and sending them the informed consent

document for review. The resulting sample was 11 participants, 6 females and 5 males.

Participants in this sample worked in a variety of fields, including non-profit, corporate, higher

education, and agency public relations.

Data Collection

The interviews followed a semi-structured design format that allowed participants to

bring up themes and concepts naturally throughout the interview (Lindlof & Taylor, 2019). The

interviews lasted approximately 45-60 minutes. A tentative interview protocol served as a guide

for the interview and prompted discussion of certain topics. The open-ended nature of the

tentative interview protocol allowed for flexibility in the participant's response. I structured the

interview questions in such a way that did not reveal my personal beliefs about the feminization

of social media and the social media profession, therefore not leading the participants to answer

in the way they believed they wanted me to.

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The interview was comprised of four overarching questions that as about the participant's

current job, their interest in the social media profession, specific information about the platforms

they manage, and their processes for message design and content creation.

To begin, the participant was asked about their current role and the responsibilities that

role entails. Additionally, participants were asked to elaborate on their perceptions of their role

within their organization and if they considered their job more marketing or public relations.

Following this, there were questions regarding interest in social media management, specifically

what influences led to their current position and what their desired next steps were in their

career, if any.

The questions regarding the platforms they managed included general questions the main

audience for their platform, the size of their following, the age group they are trying to reach on

each platform, if a specific gender interacted with their content more so than the other, and if so,

does this lead the manager to create content that “works” for that gender. Participants were also

asked to discuss their target audiences and if they receive specific targeting or positioning

guidance from their organization.

The last set of questions asks the participant about how they create or find content to post

on the platforms they manage, where they get inspiration from, their approval process for

content, who sets their content strategy, who implements the content strategy, their message

design process, what the voice of the organization is, what values they are trying to promote, if

there is a specific aesthetic they are trying to maintain, branding, and if there is a difference

between their voice and the voice of the platform. Additionally, participants were asked about

having one or multiple people posting content. If there were multiple people posting content on a

platform, I asked how the manger maintains message design, voice, values, and aesthetic.
FEMINIZATION SOCIAL MEDIA 15

Procedure

Before the scheduled interview time, participants were sent an informed consent

document they were required to read. Upon arrival to the scheduled interview time, participants

were asked if they read the informed consent document, and then were asked to confirm they

were comfortable with recording their interview. This informed consent document included

information regarding the research topic, options regarding withdrawing from the study,

confidentiality, and the recording and transcription of the interviews word-for-word. Every

participant read the document and agreed to proceed with the interview. All 11 participants were

interviewed virtually on Zoom.

Data Analysis

The data were analyzed using Braun and Clark’s (2006) thematic analysis method. The

interviews were transcribed verbatim with the assistance of the Wreally.com transcription

service. First, all transcripts were read to get an overview of categories that needed to be

included for each item. Then, I identified 9 codes. Each code was given a specific color highlight

in order to identify it. The transcriptions were then coded using this system and grouped together

into categories. Once this was complete, the categories were combined into 4 themes and

defined. These themes were reviewed to ensure they fit the coded data. Lastly, exemplars were

pulled from the data set to use as evidence of each specific theme that related to the research

questions.

Results

The process for a social media manager sets out on to create or find content to post on

social media platforms is different every time. In addition to this, social media managers take
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into account various aspects of content creation to varying degrees. In this section, all themes

and categories that arose will be listed, defined, and supported with exemplar interview data.

Role Function and Content Considerations

RQ1 sought to answer what considerations social media managers make in creating social

media content. The first major theme to arise and lend evidence to answering this research

question was Role Function. This theme was comprised of three categories, which included

whether the role was more marketing or public relations, their perception of their current role,

strategic planning, and message design. When asked if they considered their role more marketing

or public relations, 2 participants reported their jobs as mostly public relations-oriented, 5

participants reported their jobs as mostly marketing-oriented, and 4 participants reported their

jobs as a mix of both. Charlotte, a social media manager at an insurance company with

headquarters in a large Midwestern city views her role as more public relations-oriented despite

her desire to achieve high engagement with her audience:

What I'm doing has less money going towards it and it's what we would call light or
organic, where it's going out broad picture. It's meant to spark engagement or it's meant
to drive them somewhere on our website that is either helpful to them, teaches them more
about us, or is helpful for our brand whereas marketing is a lot more about sales.
(Charlotte)

Across all participants, there is an emphasis on using message design as a tool to spark

engagement with their followers. Message design is a key component to successful content. This

is true for Quinn, a digital communications specialist for a farming membership organization:

I basically look at what is going to get the most engagement. So our goal is to always get
someone to engage with us, whether that's a like, a share, a retweet, a comment, you
know, whatever we can. Then also that it's so good that they want to return to our page
for more content. So when we're writing, it’s what message gets us there. (Quinn)

For a social media manager, it is just as important to forming relationships with your

audience on social media platforms as it is to form connections with coworkers and other
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stakeholders. Every participant spoke about collaborating with coworkers in some way,

especially when it comes to strategic planning for social media. For Charlotte, there is a complex

hierarchy that content must travel through in order to be approved for posting. As a member of

the editorial committee, she and her counterpart are responsible for the strategic planning and

content that is released onto social media. When reflecting on this large responsibility, Charlotte

remarked, “We do it, me and the other girl. Who would’ve thought that two women in their

twenties would have total control over [a] Fortune 50 social media.” Beyond viewing their role

as more marketing or more public relations, participants spoke about their perception of the role

they play within their organization. Most noted there was a significant responsibility involved,

especially those who manage social media accounts that are nationally recognized and garner

higher traffic from social media users. Similar comments were made by Johnny, a social media

manager for a major television broadcasting company and Drew, social media manager for a

large Midwestern university who were both hesitant to acknowledge the large role they play in

maintaining their organization’s reputation. Still others are left to their own devices to create

content strategy and to determine voice, values, and aesthetics, among a variety of other things.

This is true for Ellen, a downtown development specialist for a central Illinois city, Lillian, the

business manager for a Midwestern university police department, and Addison, the social media

specialist for a health science company, all of whom are “trusted” to produce appropriate and

successful content for social media. Out of all the responses to the question of their role, only

Drew revealed that a main reason he aims to move higher up in the organizational hierarchy is

because “the burnout is real” as a social media manager. None of the other participants discussed

experiencing fatigue or noted that they were facing significant pressures from their job.
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The second major theme to address this research question was the Use of Voice. This

theme was comprised of three categories, which included individual voice, social media account

voice, and social media account values. When discussing the influence of their own voice on the

voice of the account they manage, 9 of the 11 participants agreed there are similarities between

the two. Quinn sees this overlap in voice as a necessity to building a relationship with her

audience:

I think it shows up a little bit just because I try to make what we're sharing more
personable because news is straightforward. It can be pretty bland and boring, so by
trying to put a personal touch on it and put a human spin on it you're going to get better
engagement. People feel more drawn to what you're sharing because you do have that
personal touch on it and people like that type of interaction. (Quinn)
Johnny embraces the fact his voice influences the accounts he manages saying, “100% I

would say it's encouraged for your personality to come out or else it's just gonna be some boring,

stale tweet or Facebook post that nobody wants to see.” Alternatively, Ellen clarifies the

difference between her voice and the voice of the accounts she manages as having “my tone of

voice, but without my personality.”

Along with Ellen, Drew actively tries to depersonalize the copy he writes for the accounts

he manages. For Drew, his individual voice does not properly represent or align with the

organization and therefore needs to be pared down:

I try to depersonalize where possible, mostly because a lot of my own personal feelings
and opinions are going to be vastly different than the organization. So I don't want that to
bleed in, you know, just as a professionalism kind of thing. (Drew)

When discussing the specific voice of the social media account being managed, many

participants used similar adjectives to describe it. Common descriptors included informative,

family-friendly, caring, empathetic, and upbeat. Addison describes the voice of the accounts she

manages as “basically a trusted friend.” Similarly, Drew depicts the voice of his accounts as

“friendly but not your friend.”

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In terms of the values managers were trying to display or promote to their followers,

managers spoke of being authentic, honest, transparent, loyal, helpful, and essential. Quinn spoke

specifically about being authentic and loyal with her organization’s followers:

Definitely authenticity, honesty, and loyal because we're a loyal organization. We have
loyal members and we want to share that loyalty with our members. They can count on us
and we can count on them. (Quinn)
These values were sometimes reflected in the descriptions given for the account’s voice,

showing consistency in the formation of the account’s overall personality and voice.

The third major theme to arise relating to this research question was Creativity. This

theme is comprised of three categories, which include aesthetics, branding, and inspiration.

Maeve, a social media manager for a nursing certification non-profit, spoke about the aesthetic

she maintains on her organization’s social media platforms by utilizing a brand guide:

We have a brand guide of colors. So we maintain about three primary colors. By primary
I mean like the ones we use the most, not primary colors. Then we have secondary and
tertiary, and we use those a certain percentage of time to maintain that look of
consistency. We also work with a lot of like rounded edges. (Maeve)

For other managers, it is less about producing a curated look from a brand guide. Four of

the 11 participants specified they did not have a brand guide. For Hayes, a digital content creator

for a public radio station, it is more about producing a “polished, credible looking” product on

his organization’s social media platforms. Similarly, Ellen does not have a specific brand guide

to base her content creation off of but she likes “things that are very clean, kind of crisp colors to

give the people that feeling of freshness” when followers see her organization’s content.

A majority of the social media managers interviewed mentioned how they monitor their

organization’s competitors for inspiration of what to do and what not to do on social media. A

way for Quinn to stay on top of social media trends is by researching competitors and similar

organizations:
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I definitely look at other agriculture news organizations, but also other news
organizations in general…and so I just look at competitors really and even not
necessarily competitors, but other news organizations that are out of state that can just be
good role models because they are more established in the industry than we are.

Feminization

RQ2 sought to answer in what ways, if any, social media managers are impacted by the

perceived feminization of their social media platforms. RQ3 sought to answer whether

practitioners perceive social media as a feminized field. The major theme answering these two

research questions was Feminization. This theme is comprised of three categories, which include

relationship building, female audience, and female interaction.

The evidence to support RQ2 is specifically about relationship-building tactics

practitioners use in order to reach their audiences. The impact by the perceived feminization of

their social media platforms is visible in the nuanced relationship-building strategies and

engagement tactics social media managers use to connect with their audiences. Eight participants

reported a higher percentage of female followers than male, 2 participants reported a higher

percentage of male followers than female, and 1 participant reported their accounts were evenly

split between female and male. The 8 participants who reported a higher percentage of female

followers reported that female followers tended to engage with the social media platforms more

so than the males:

Instagram’s like almost 70% women who follow our account and like strongly engaged
with the page...our real sweet spot are women who are really engaged. I think for higher
[education] in general because the trend over the past, you know, 2-3 decades where
more women attend and graduate from higher education anyway. I think [Midwestern
university], I think we're almost 55/45, as far as our population breakdown goes [female-
heavy]. (Drew)
Charlotte finds it interesting that her followership is predominantly male rather than

female, and speculated as to why that could be:

FEMINIZATION SOCIAL MEDIA 21

We have a pretty strong following of men actually, more than women, which is
interesting. It's likely due to, and this is just me assuming, but it's likely due to our NBA
and NFL partnerships that we have. So we are cognizant of that very much, but we don't
necessarily speak just to that. We are very aware of it when we're creating our messages
and whatnot, but we also don't specifically try to hone in on only that audience even
though we know that they make up a big chunk of our audience. (Charlotte)
While she keeps this male dominant audience in mind when creating messages, she does

not cater to this audience.

In order to increase engagement and followership, a social media manager must build a

relationship between their organization and its followers. This extends further than the social

media followers to include employees and other stakeholders as another audience to consider.

The social media manager must be aware of how each audience is feeling in order to properly

gauge the status of the social media platforms. When asked how she builds relationships on

social media, Maeve explained how she relies on the employees at her non-profit organization to

shift the social media algorithm in her favor:

It's a combination between our own office staff, because I encourage everybody to please
interact [since] it helps with the algorithm. We see a lot of nurse leaders so emergency
department directors or [charge nurses]. We have a lot of those, we have our main types
of nurses that are interacting with us, our flight nurses, trauma nurses, emergency room
nurses, and transport nurses.
For Charlotte, a way to build a relationship between her organization and its followers is

through storytelling:

I enjoy storytelling. I like that it's like bite-size, short and sweet, and you can still have
some personality and can still be kind of building relationships without so much
formality.
The evidence that addresses RQ3 involves practitioners’ perception of social media as a

feminized field. All the participants were asked who their main audience is. For those that

responded that their audience was predominantly female, a reoccurring theme in the responses

was a lack of surprise that their audience was heavily female and that this equated to more
FEMINIZATION SOCIAL MEDIA 22

female interactions than male interactions. This was the case for Hayes who has approximately

60% female audience on Facebook. When asked if he felt like this audience breakdown between

female and male reflects who interacts with his organization’s content he replied, “Yeah, I think

so. I think that's not super surprising to see.” Similar comments were made by Addison, who

reported that she specifically has to target “millennial dads” through advertisements in order to

get her content in front of them and interacting with it. She reported her audience as “mostly

moms and I would say our biggest audience is twenty to thirty-year old women with children.”

Furthermore, Addison commented that if males do interact with her content, it is because their

partner tagged them in the comments:

We actually see on one of our [products] women tagging husband's saying “Should we
get this for little Timmy?” “I don't know.” “Do you think it's available on Amazon?” “All
right, I'll order it.” Like those type of interactions, we see a lot of those. (Addison)
For Maeve, when asked if she is concerned with “turning off” a certain gender based on

the content she posts, it is a matter of ensuring her content is inclusive for both female and male

followers:

We've actually had to adjust the way that we speak because it's really easy to refer to
nurses as females. That's kind of the stereotype, so when we're just sharing positive or
inspirational quotes just to keep everything light hearted because you know, they have a
really tough job. There was one quote shared a couple years ago that said “She believed
she could, so she did” or something like that. Just a very commonly used quote and we
got some backlash from the male audience because they felt excluded. So now we're
very, very particular about how we speak to them and not assuming that they're going to
be female. (Maeve)
Additionally, Ellen stated that her audience being 70% female was “pretty typical for

social media being more of a feminine space then it is, you know, a masculine space.” Ellen

further elaborated that she has to specifically reach out to males by targeting them through paid

advertising saying, “We often target specifically to males when it's for our holiday events or

things like that, because obviously we want them to come down and shop.” This evidence
FEMINIZATION SOCIAL MEDIA 23

indicates that practitioners do perceive social media as a feminized field because they have to

perform additional work in order to reach a male audience.

Discussion

This research serves as an early exploration into the perceptions and impact of the

feminization of social media, guided by research questions probing how managers view the role

they inhabit (RQ1), the platforms and audiences they manage, and their perception of social

media content through a feminine lens. Semi-structured interviews of 11 social media managers

addressed the considerations made by social media managers make in creating content (RQ1),

the impact of the perceived feminization of social media (RQ2), and how managers view social

media platforms as feminine spaces, curated by, and for, women (RQ3). Findings have

significant implications for our understanding of social media as a feminine space.

Role Function and Content Considerations

In answer to RQ1, the first theme to arise included all mentions related to Role Function,

including whether they considered their role was more marketing or public relations oriented,

their perception of their current role, strategic planning, and message design. Out of all the

participants, only 2 reported that their role was more public relations oriented. These results were

surprising given the connection between the field of public relations and social media described

in data recorded by the PRSA (Lee et al., 2017). It is possible these responses are due to the fact

that the participants are expected to produce a return on investment for their organizations

through high engagement. Engagement was frequently discussed in a goal-oriented way

throughout the interviews. The exemplar used to show the emphasis on engagement was from

Quinn, who discussed how their message design process is oriented towards what drives

engagement with her followers. Having a strategy and process in place to drive engagement
FEMINIZATION SOCIAL MEDIA 24

resonates with scholarship, which says that social media is often seen as something anyone can

do but it actually requires thought and skill to be successful (Duffy, 2017).

The common perception of the role social media managers’ play within the organization

was that it is a large one. This was readily apparent to Charlotte, who jokingly commented that

no one could have imagined two women in their twenties would be running a Fortune 50

company’s social media. She recognized the large role she plays in the company, while hinting at

the lack of recognition for this massive task since it was not directly related to sales or profit.

This provides greater potential for her role to be devalued. Other participants were hesitant to

acknowledge their importance in the grand scheme of their organization and maintaining its

reputation. These feelings resonant with the idea of social media being “pink collar” or a “fluff”

position for women who are just starting out in the workplace (Levinson, 2015). Conversely,

those who expressed that they have more autonomy in deciding aspects of the social media

platforms such as voice, values, and aesthetics could be indicative of a lack of perceived value of

social media from the organization. Furthermore, the fact that only one of the participants, Drew,

expressed fatigue or outright concern for the pressures placed upon them indicates this was not

an issue on the forefront of the participants’ minds. This conflicts with existing literature, which

discusses added pressures from the workplace being placed upon social media managers. Further

research about the pressures social media professionals endure is needed to uncover this division

between literature and participant experiences.

The second theme that arose in answer to the first research question encapsulated all

topics under Use of Voice, including individual voice, the voice of the social media account, and

values the social media account portrays. Throughout the interview process, social media

managers consistently admitted that their individual voice had similarities to the accounts they
FEMINIZATION SOCIAL MEDIA 25

manage. While a couple participants embraced this, the rest expressed that they attempt to

depersonalize the content they create. Unlike journalism, social media managers do not get a

byline. This lack of recognition and conscious effort to reduce their voice is the epitome of the

feminine experience (Hempel, 2018). In the past, social media have influenced elections and

started movements. Yet this influence does not equal a higher paycheck or power for social

media managers. It is important to note that social media managers, specifically female social

media managers, are using their voices to craft personalities for the organization's they represent.

Therefore, female voices are being used to benefit the organization but not the female manager.

This disconnect is unacceptable because it further silences female voices.

The values that were mentioned by participants, such as caring, transparency, honesty,

and authenticity, are all aspects of relationship-building (Rodriguez de Rubio & Kiser, 2015).

Duffy and Schwartz (2017) discuss these traits in relation to the job postings for social media

manager positions. It is understandable that these companies are searching for individuals,

primarily females, who exhibit these traits in order for them to be able to communicate with their

audiences appropriately.

In addition to social media managers approaching message design strategically, most

females in these roles also use the same tools to aesthetics, branding, and inspiration-seeking

(Duffy, 2017). This reflects in the data, which shows social media managers’ attention to details,

such as aesthetics and branding, while they seek out inspiration from other sources. These were

categories within the third and final theme to arise in answer to the first research question,

Creativity. The exemplars shown as evidence for utilizing a specific aesthetic or established

brand guidelines were Maeve, Ellen, and Hayes. These social media managers discussed their

strategies for the platforms they manage, some of which include utilizing brand standards to
FEMINIZATION SOCIAL MEDIA 26

maintain consistency across their social media platforms. There is no previous literature

regarding aesthetics, but this great attention to detail and ability to communicate with the

audience in that way is inherently feminine (Hesmondhalgh & Baker, 2015). The other aspect of

the theme Creativity was looking to competitors or other brands for inspiration for what to do

and what not to do. The exemplar used was from Quinn, who spoke about following other

agriculture news organizations or general news organizations in order to stay on top of trends

and get ideas for content. The research that Quinn performs is a way for her to best understand

how to reach her audience, which allows her to deliver targeted, strategic information (Lee et al.,

2017; Motion et al., 2015).

Social Media as a Feminine Space

Categories from the fourth theme of Feminization, specifically female audience and

relationship-building provided evidence to answering RQ2, by indicating that relationship-

building strategies are utilized by practitioners in order to reach their predominantly female

audiences. As mentioned in the review of literature, women have remained among the top users

of social media platforms, while men have only recently increased their overall usage (Pew,

2018). Drew identified middle-aged women as his organization's "sweet spot" in terms of

followership and interaction. Since they already engage with his content, he does not have to put

in additional labor to ensure he reaches them. They are already a built-in audience he has

cultivated, possibly with help from the higher population of females in higher education.

The managers who did report higher followership from males speculated that this was

due to the partnerships their organization or topic of the content. This was true for Charlotte, who

discussed how their partnerships with major national sports leagues was likely the cause of the

higher male skew. However, Charlotte did clarify that she does not purposefully craft content
FEMINIZATION SOCIAL MEDIA 27

with this dominant audience in mind. It could be hypothesized that, since she does not craft

content for this audience, she is curating content for women. Other than topic of the content

being the cause for the higher male skew, the other managers speculated the higher female

followership was likely due to social media having higher female users in general (Pew, 2018).

These results support the social media statistics provided by Pew (2018), which remained

relatively unchanged in 2019 (Perrin & Anderson, 2019).

Building relationships is the foundation of the social media manager's role. Without an

audience, it would be a waste to spend time creating content. A social media manager is basically

an around-the-clock brand ambassador for their organization (Hempel, 2018), constantly

maintaining the relationships their organization has with its various publics (Theunissan, 2019).

In addition, public relations practitioners and social media managers must maintain internal

relationships as well (Cardwell et al., 2016). The managing of multiple audiences echoes the role

of a caregiver or nurturing figure, roles that are stereotypically assumed to be held by women

(Hesmondhalgh & Baker, 2015).

It is important to understand the context of how relationship-building is seen as a key role

of public relations and social media management. Kimbrough et al. (2013) state that females use

social media to connect with people and to form relationships. The concept of building

relationships and connecting with audiences was discussed by Charlotte and Maeve. Due to this,

there are existing gendered assumptions that since females already spend a greater amount of

time on social media than males, it will be “easy” for them to take on this role (Duffy, 2017).

Duffy (2017) explains how the recruitment process for public relations and social media

positions is executed in such a way that women are being concentrated into these roles because

of these “nurturing” qualities. These gendered assumptions frame females as more nurturing and
FEMINIZATION SOCIAL MEDIA 28

caring than males, and therefore better suited to building relationships with followers. From this,

it is not surprising that there is occupational segregation occurring in the social media profession

and public relations (Hesmondhalgh & Baker, 2015).

In answer to RQ3, which asked whether or not practitioners perceive social media as a

feminized field, there was a wealth of evidence to indicate there is a feminized perception.

“Feminization” refers to when there is an increase in the concentration of women within a

specific occupation (Hesmondhalgh & Baker, 2015). From the data gathered, it is clear that

social media is perceived to be a feminized field due to social media managers creating content

for women, by women. Participants reported that they have to go out of their way to engage with

a male audience. Feminist theory posits that women have been socialized to exhibit

stereotypically feminine traits and males have been socialized to exhibit stereotypically

masculine traits. This is the explanation behind higher female engagement on social media and

the ease of which practitioners are able to cultivate a female-dominant audience (Grosser et al.,

2019; Lee et al., 2017). The exemplars used to show this response were from Addison, Maeve,

and Ellen. Both Addison and Ellen indicated they were organically reaching a female audience

with their content, and have to utilize paid advertising in order to properly target and reach a

male audience. Maeve spoke specifically about having to adjust content to be more inclusive to

males, since nursing is stereotyped as a predominantly female occupation. This idea is echoed by

Ellen, who expressed that she viewed social media as a more feminine space than a masculine

space and Hayes, who reported that it was not surprising to him that his audience was female-

dominated. Since males are socialized to exhibit stereotypically masculine traits, it is not easy to

get this audience to engage as it is females (Grosser et al., 2019; Lee et al., 2017). Due to this,
FEMINIZATION SOCIAL MEDIA 29

practitioners are forced to utilize paid advertising and perform the additional leg work (for the

male audience) to get their message in from of them.

The findings from this study were illuminating in identifying that there is an impact on

social media managers from the perceived feminization of social media. In order to fully

understand this impact, it was important first to delve into the function of their role and

considerations managers make when creating content for their audiences. By first understanding

how the manager saw their role, hearing how the organization’s personality develops, and then

understanding how feminization impacts all of it, a full picture was able to be illustrated and

understood. Similar to social media, this study had multiple variables to identify and take into

account. From its conception, I intended this research study to make the problematic, and

sometimes invisible, limits placed on those employed in the social media profession visible. The

further I got into this topic, the more this study became about emphasizing the feminization of

social media. At its conclusion, I have uncovered that practitioners view social media platforms

and its audiences as a feminine space.

Future Research

As with any research study, there are limitations that the researcher is bound to encounter

along the way. For future research, I recommend screening participants more thoroughly to

ensure they do not work for an agency or oversee multiple accounts on the same platform for one

organization. I recommend this because the multiple accounts might differ in content strategy

and followership, thereby making the data confusing to parse through.

There is so much more scholarship that can be performed in the field of public relations,

especially regarding relationship building on a micro-level, conceptualizing public relations

theory, and how relationship building is taught in education. This is a realm of literature outside
FEMINIZATION SOCIAL MEDIA 30

of the scope of my study, which is why it is not emphasized throughout the review of literature.

However, it is still relevant to the topic of public relations and its core strategies. Additional

research is also required regarding the social media profession, since this study only sought to

highlight the role social media managers’ play within their organizations, the feminization of

social media, and the perception of social media as a feminine space by practitioners. I believe it

is important to keep researching the roles women play in the fields of social media management

and public relations, as well as the pressures they experience internally from their own

organizations, and externally from other industries.

FEMINIZATION SOCIAL MEDIA 31

Appendix

Email Request Form

Hello,
I am a graduate student in the School of Communication at Illinois State University. I am
looking for people who are willing to help me with a project I am doing for my graduate degree.
You are invited to participate in one-on-one, virtual interviews to examine the social media
profession. Specifically, I am looking for individuals who manage a social media account(s) in a
full-time capacity, either as their sole responsibility or an additional responsibility.
The research will begin with brief demographic questions and will then be followed by an
interview that will take approximately 45-60 minutes in length. The researcher will keep findings
confidential. No identifying names or comments will be used in any write-up or presentation of
the study. Your participation will be completely voluntary, and you will receive no compensation
for participating in this study. You may decide not to answer any question, and you can stop
participating in the interview at any time without penalty. To participate, you must be at least 18
years of age.
If you would like to participate in an interview, please contact me via email at [email protected]
to volunteer, and I will give you possible times for interviews. If you know someone else who
might like to participate, please feel free to forward this invitation on to them.
Please direct any questions and/or comments to Elena Roth, Dr. Rebecca Hayes
([email protected]), or Dr. John Baldwin ([email protected]).
Sincerely, 
Elena Roth
Graduate Student, School of Communication 
Illinois State University 
[email protected] 

Facebook Social Media Request Form

Hello everyone! I am a graduate student in the School of Communication at Illinois State
University. I am looking for people who are willing to help me with a project I am doing for my
graduate degree. You are invited to participate in one-on-one, virtual interviews to examine the
social media profession. Specifically, I am looking for individuals who manage a social media
account(s) in a full-time capacity, either as their sole responsibility or an additional
responsibility.
The research will begin with brief demographic questions and will then be followed by an
interview that will take approximately 45-60 minutes in length. The researcher will keep findings
confidential. No identifying names or comments will be used in any write-up or presentation of
the study. Your participation will be completely voluntary, and you will receive no compensation
for participating in this study. You may decide not to answer any question, and you can stop
participating in the interview at any time without penalty. To participate, you must be at least 18
years of age.
FEMINIZATION SOCIAL MEDIA 32

If you would like to participate in an interview, please contact me via email at [email protected]
or direct message me to volunteer, and I will give you possible times for interviews. If you know
someone else who might like to participate, please feel free to forward this invitation on to them.
Sincerely, 
Elena Roth
Graduate Student, School of Communication 
Illinois State University 
[email protected] 

Tentative Interview Format

This is a tentative interview format that indicates three primary areas of questions and includes
probes as additional means to acquire more detailed and focused responses. The exact questions
utilized will vary depending on how each co-participant’s interview progresses, as the interview
seeks to provide minimal structure on the participants’ responses.

1. What is your current role?

a. What other responsibilities do you have in addition to social media?
b. Do you consider your role more marketing or public relations?
i. Can you expand more on that?
c. How do you view the role you play as a social media manager?
d. Do you have a social media team or are you the sole individual in charge of
posting?
2. Why were you interested in managing social media?
a. Were there other specific influences that led you to pursuing this position?
b. What are your desired next steps after your current role?
3. Who is the main audience of the social media platforms you manage?
a. Is there a specific age/age group you trying to reach through the platforms and
does it vary depending on the platform? (specifically Facebook, Instagram,
and/or Twitter)?
i. If so, what are they?
b. What is the approximate size of the audience on each social media platform
you manage?
c. Who typically interacts with your social media accounts, and who are you
targeting?
i. If they don’t bring up gender, ask: If there is a specific gender that
interacts with your content?
1. Does this change depending on the platforms?
2. Are you concerned about “turning off” or not reaching a
particular audience (gender) with your content?
ii. Who are you targeting?
FEMINIZATION SOCIAL MEDIA 33

iii. Are you receiving specific targeting and positioning guidance from
your organization or brand?
4. How do you find or create content to post on the social media platforms you manage?
a. Is there a social media strategy everyone managing social at (X place) adheres
to or are you creating as you go?
i. Who sets the content strategy for the social media platforms?
ii. Who implements it?
b. Explain your message design process for social media content.
i. Are all your posts branded?
c. Is there a specific voice you’re trying to portray to your followers?
i. How was this voice cultivated or decided on?
d. What values are you trying to promote or display to your followers?
i. If there are, what would they be?
e. Is there a specific aesthetic you’re trying to maintain and/or create?
i. How was this aesthetic chosen?
f. If there are multiple individuals posting, ask:
i. How do you divide the work and plan content?
ii. How do you maintain the message design, intended message, voice,
values, and aesthetic?
g. Do you think your personality and/or individual voice is separate or the same
as the platforms you manage?
i. Do you have a personal aesthetic or voice?
1. How would you describe your aesthetic and/or voice?
ii. Which brands or social media accounts do you look to for inspiration?
1. If so, do you know who runs those accounts?
2. What does their content look like?
iii. What is another brand you think reaches your target audience well?
FEMINIZATION SOCIAL MEDIA 34

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