Women 'unfriendlier' than men on social networks

Women and young adults are more ‘unfriendly’ than men on social networks, a new study reveals.

According to the report released by the Pew Research Center, two-thirds of Internet users are on social networking sites and a good number of them — 63% — have deleted “friends.”

And not only is defriending up from 2009 by 19%, but women and young adults are the ones hitting the “unfriend” button the most.

“Some 67% of women who maintain a profile say they have deleted people from their network, compared with 58% of men,” ABC News quoted the Privacy Management on Social Media Sites report as stating.

Unsurprisingly, young adults (those between 18 and 29) are more apt to delete contacts than users between 30 and 49.

While women are more aggressive in pruning their friend list, they are also more stringent when it comes to protecting their information on social networking sites, revealed Pew.

More than half of social network site users (58%) say their main profile is set to “private” so only their friends can see it, and women more often choose the “highest restriction” (67% of women versus 48% of men).

The study also found that 11% of social network users have posted content they regret, and half of users have “some difficulty” using privacy controls.