Agitator Editors Nailed As Chauvanist Male Pigs

May 15, 2013      Admin

For those who’ve long suspected that Tom and I are throwbacks, here’s you’re proof.

For those who believe social media is by and large bullshit, here’s your proof.

And for everyone else, no matter what you want to prove, here’s a great new social media parlor game. Have at it.

Let me explain.

The Swedish gender equality group has just released a terrific new tool called Twee-Q. You won’t be able to resist putting it to work on behalf your friends and against your opponents. Get snarky.

Here’s the deal.

To mark the publication of The Public Woman, her new book on gender roles and inequality, British writer and activist Joan Smith teamed up with Crossing Borders, the equal opportunity organization.

Since gender equality is a perennial hot topic on Twitter, they designed a thought-provoking, interactive self-assessment tool that shows what proportion of a Twitter account’s re-tweets were of  recent comments issued by men or by women.

The determination of gender is made via an English and Swedish dictionary of first names. A score of 10 is the perfect “Twee-Q” — meaning equal balance between men and women.

Always curious, we began with our own Twitter handle: @agitatoreditors. And scored a pitiful 1.4, meaning we re-tweeted 88% men and only 12% women. Tom clearly needs some remedial education. And the Twee-Q site itself delivered our results with the following admonition: “Find some more Tweeters to follow and repent.”

Chastened, we then looked around and ran scores on some of our friends. Here’s what turned up:

Top Rated: Nancy Schwartz (@nancyschwartz) at 9.4, meaning 52% men and 48% women. Tied with Katya Andressen over at Network for Good (@katyan4g), also at 9.4.

Next: Pamela Grow (@pamelagrow) 8.8 — 53% men, 47% women.

Then we checked on Kivi Leroux Miller, a big Twitter presence in our world, but the handle we had (@kivim) wasn’t found by Twee-Q.

Nancy and Pamela both beat out the National Organization for Women (@nationalnow), and sure whipped Sarah Palin (@sarahpalinusa) with her 6.0.

By this point I was raging at Tom, who smugly or defensively said, “Well, just check out Jeff Brooks over at Future Fundraising Now.” I did. (@jeffbrooks.) He scored a 6.0 — 63% men, 37% women. Damn!

And what about the trade publications? Fundraising Success: 2.4. Non Profit Times: 3.8. And The Chronicle of Philanthropy: 6.0.

As I write, a view across all of Twitterdom who’ve played with Twee-Q so far reveals this gender ‘balance’: 920,633 female; 1,706,345 male.

Like most social media play things I have no idea what any of this means, other than it’s fun and interesting. It lets you interpret the results however you wish. Maybe you can even turn it into a money-making “Like” on your Facebook page.

Take a look at Twee-Q. Start with yourself and then let us know what you think.

Roger

P.S. Tom, until we get this cleared up, you’re getting a time out.

 

5 responses to “Agitator Editors Nailed As Chauvanist Male Pigs”

  1. Wow, what a great campaign – thanks for pointing this tool out.

    Couldn’t wait to try it, and the results are *weird*. My work Twitter account, @rachel_shares has a perfect Twee-Q of 10! (I’m as shocked about that as anybody.) But it’s not all rosy. My personal account, @not_telling_you_that, has a Twee-Q of 3. I am actually ashamed. This has certainly made me think. Perhaps I am a public champion of human rights and a private misogynist! Eeeek!

  2. Good to see the ‘social media is bullshit’ discussion can not be confined to the Engage conference. For the record, I fall squarely in the ‘social media is good cultivation, bad revenue generation camp’, but definitely not bullshit.

    For all the ire rightfully aimed at siloing internal departments, I’m a little confused why social media would be expected to produce revenue in isolation, instead of as part of an integrated donor development plan. Maybe a topic for a future post.

    Interesting tool though. BTW, Kivi Miller’s twitter handle is @kivilm

  3. Mary Beth says:

    Very interesting. Curious to know how it counts institutional retweets — such as if I retweet my nonprofit org’s or a news organization’s tweets. Or are they not counted? Couldn’t find that answer.

  4. Molly Connors says:

    Love this one, Roger! I knew you’d find a clever way to build on your “social media is bullshit” position. Could it just be that men are the majority tweeters, so until there’s more balance in the twitter universe, male retweets will continue to dominate. Maybe this proves that we need affirmative action in Twitterdom – female tweets get special retweet treatment until the playing field is even. Oh the places we can go with this one!

    Enjoyed seeing you last week at The Engage Conference.

    All the best,

    Molly Connors
    Care2

  5. Love it. Thanks for sharing. And, there are folks like me who just haven’t had the time to get up to speed on twitter and start posting away. I’ll try and help the gender gap 🙂