Statistics have consistently shown that women make up a clear majority of people on social media – both in terms of membership and daily activity. This infographic from the marketing firm Digital Flash gives the full picture.

And it turns out, the differences between the genders are quite stark:

• Pinterest: ~82% of users are female
• Facebook: ~64% of users are female
• Twitter: ~58% of users are female

Even online gaming, long the preserve of (primarily) younger men, has undergone something of a gender-bending adjustment. According to Digital Flash, more time is spent by females over the age of 55 playing Zynga games than by males between the age of 15 and 34.

Men do still make up the majority of users on several social platforms, including LinkedIn and Google+. And in an interesting finding, it turns out that men are the better advertising target on Facebook.

That revelation comes to us courtesy of a new report published in September 2012 by digital marketing software firm Kenshoo.

Titled Social Media Insights: Men are Cheap, this report finds that, on average, ads targeting men on Facebook cost less than those aimed at women:

• Cost-per-thousand impressions: 16¢ for men vs. 20¢ for women
• Cost per click: 51¢ for men vs. 68¢ for women

What’s even more interesting? Men click through on Facebook ads more frequently than do women.

Capitalizing on these trends, it comes as little surprise that advertisers spend ~53% of Facebook advertising budgets reaching men, who deliver better exposure rates and clickthrough rates, thus increasing their value to marketers.

These findings are intriguing, because not only is it women who make up the clear majority of Facebook members, they’re also far more active users of the platform.

The Pew Research Center published findings earlier this year which show that women make an average of eleven updates to their Facebook status during the span of one month, compared to an average of only six updates per month being made by men. Moreover, women are more likely to comment on other people’s status updates than men.

Are these various findings contradictory? Perhaps not:  One group is busy “hunting and gathering” … while the other group is “socializing.”

As the French like to say, Plus ça change … plus c’est la même chose. (The more things change … the more they stay the same.)