Free Pile Sort as a Method to Understand Gender Differences: An Ecological Model of Social Media Use

Abstract

This pilot study looks at a novel methodology that helps to understand how people choose which social platform to use. Beginning with the assumption that affordances alone cannot explain differences in social media platform choice, we propose an ecological model to understand the differences between social media platform choice by gender. We propose that a free pile sort method offers an opportunity to understand influences at the micro, meso, and macro levels of the ecological model that may be subtle and difficult to gage across different social networks using other approaches. We show, in a pilot study, the ways this method reveals fine distinctions in the way male identified persons versus female identified persons think about social media platforms which may help us explain trends in use.