activity

Affluent or otherwise, it is unclear whether membership of a GLBT demographic makes an appreciable difference to much online behaviour.

The problematical Witeck survey in 2001 claimed to uncover

a sharp jump with 32% of LGBT Internet users now stating they use the Internet for more than 21 hours per week (apart from email), compared with a minor decline to 17% among non-gay users. In April 2000, one-quarter (25%) of LGBT respondents disclosed using the Internet more than 21 hours per week (excluding email) compared with 18% of non-gay Internet users.

It went on to comment that

over one-quarter (28%) of LGBT respondents conducted their banking transactions online in the last three months, as compared with 21% of non-gay web users. Similarly, a 7% gap exists between LGBT and non-gay respondents who took part in online auctions over the past three months (26% v 19%, respectively).

LGBT respondents are also slightly more likely to make online purchases for goods and services than their non-gay counterparts (63% vs 59%).

The newest findings validate the power of the Internet to promote gay consumer spending and to transform the potential for e-commerce. The LGBT market appears to signal a bellwether, enabling gay households to find welcome, safety, convenience and service online.

Greenfield's study claimed that

• 78% of US gay online users prefer to buy from companies that advertise to the gay market
• 71% of US gay online users have made credit card purchases online
• 43% of US gay online users identify Gay.com as their favorite site

Given survey composition and the ambiguity of terms, they would say that, wouldn't they. Broader-based studies suggest that the 'favourite' site is likely to be Google or AOL home page.

The October 2001 opuscommgroup.com report claimed that the median combined household income of US gay couples was US$65,000 (around 60% higher than the median income of US$40,800). 79.8% voted in the 2000 presidential election (compared to 49% of the general public voting in the 1996 election) and 68.8% are registered Democrats.

In Australia the Sydney Star Observer claims that the average income of its readers is $48,482 per annum. 58% supposedly have a tertiary qualification, 26% own/manage a business and a further 37.3% work in professions. As of 1998 48.8% owned a computer and 35.8% were online. (In line with the overall population that figure would now be significantly higher.) 25.6% had purchased goods or services online during the preceding month, with an average spend of $575. 36.7% have used the net for online banking; 16.5% do so "occasionally" and 20.2% do so "regularly".

A 2001 Forrester report claimed that the online GLBT population in the EU was more likely to book travel online (and spend up big) than non-GLBT counterparts. 41% had booked travel on the net (reference 28% of the overall population).

Forrester claimed, in line with comments noted above, that

around 3.5% of online travel bookers are gay or lesbian and this group will research almost US$2.9 billion in travel products on the Internet in 2001. Members of this group are, on average, three years younger than their straight counterparts. They also earn more, are better educated, and are more willing to pay for premium services. Gay and lesbian consumers also enjoy shopping online and using new consumer technologies.

In 2007 InformationWeek embraced the problematical claim that

Excluding e-mail, nearly twice as many gay, lesbian, and bisexual individuals than heterosexuals said they're online between 24 and 168 hours per week

Drawing on a 2006 survey by Witeck-Combs and Harris Interactive (267 LGB adults of a 2,541 population, with a variety of weightings) it claimed that

Non-heterosexuals use online social networks MySpace and Friendster significantly more often than heterosexuals .... In addition, gays, lesbians, and bisexuals use other well-known Web sites such as YouTube, Craigslist, and personal blogs more than heterosexuals. Excluding e-mail, nearly twice as many GLB individuals than heterosexuals said they're online between 24 and 168 hours per week. ... Fully 33% of non-heterosexuals surveyed said they visited MySpace weekly, compared with 28% of heterosexuals. On Friendster, the numbers were 11% and 4%, respectively. More than one in three GLB adults visit their favorite blogs everyday, compared with less than one in five heterosexuals. In addition, 27% of non-heterosexuals spend at least one hour or less per week on YouTube, compared with 22% of heterosexuals. For Craigslist, the numbers were 20% and 13%, respectively.

As with earlier work by the survey partners there are questions about population size and composition, survey methodology and data interpretation. The figures for blog use, for example are inconsistent with larger scale studies of who is creating and reading blogs.

For perspectives on online environments and behaviour see the Queer Online: Media Technology and Sexuality (New York: Peter Lang 2007) edited by Kate O'Riordan & David Phillips, the 2004 Cruising and connecting online: the use of gay chat sites by gay men in Sydney and Melbourne (PDF) by Dean Murphy, Patrick Rawstorne, Martin Holt & Dermot Ryan, Getting It On Online: Cyberspace, Gay Male Sexuality & Embodied Identity (Binghamton: Haworth 2004) by John Edward Campbell, Hanging Out in the Virtual Pub: Masculinities and Relationships Online (Berkeley: Uni of California Press 2002) by Lori Kendall, Mobile Cultures: New Media in Queer Asia (Durham: Duke Uni Press 2003) edited by Chris Berry & Fran Martin and Contacts Desired: Gay and Lesbian Communications and Community, 1940s-1970s (Chicago: Uni of Chicago Press 2006) by Martin Meeker.

Meeker's 2007 article 'Queer Connections Before Craigslist: How gay men got in touch pre-Internet times' is a corrective to some of the more lurid claims regarding "online meat markets".

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