GENDER PATTERNS ON TWITTER: A SOCIOLINGUISTIC PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

Social media comes in various interconnected forms such as Facebook, podcasts, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and many more. Gender orientation may influence preferences for certain social media use. Therefore, the emphasis of this study is on gender differences in using social media, especially on Twitter. This study used qualitative methods and descriptive qualitative design. The data collection technique was an observation. The subjects were taken from 6 randomly selected Twitter profiles consisting of 3 men and 3 women as samples. The results revealed that men and women showed differences in writing and displaying their photo profiles on social media. Most women write about themselves, life's problems, their feelings, and their emotions. Besides, they use more expressive and polite language. Meanwhile, men prefer to write about quotes, jokes, hobbies, and current news. Sometimes they also tend to be harsh, using expletive or taboo words in writing tweets. Relating to photos, women prefer to use close-up photos that look more pleasing, beautiful, sweeter, and cuter; whereas men use full body shots with a masculine impression.