Gender Differences in User-Generated Travel Photographs on Social Media

This study examines the gender differences in user-generated travel photographs posted on social networking services. Using 515 travel photographs—285 generated by females and 230 generated by males—from China’s Sina Weibo website, the study analyzes the gender differences in the photographs and the geographical distribution differences using a geographical information system (GIS). The results show that there are statistical gender differences in terms of four variables: type of landscape, regional attribute, photographic distance, and number of people in the photograph. In particular, photographs generated by women tend to show natural landscapes, while photographs generated by males tend to show cultural landscapes. Additional researches are needed to determine the reason for such gender differences, as are advanced differential studies that would consider variables other than gender.