Gmailers: Skinnier and smartier than Yahoo! users?
A new study shows that Gmail users are more likely to be young, thin, career-minded men, while Yahoo! is more typically home to overweight, older women

Web curator Hunch.com asked its 700,000 users which email service they use, as well as a series of questions about their lifestyles. With 75 million answers to work with, the site was able to discover some striking differences between users of Gmail, and those who have stuck with older web clients like Yahoo!, Hotmail, and AOL. For instance, Gmail users are more likely to be young, Yahoo! users are often extroverted, and AOL users have typically been in a relationship for more than ten years. Here are four other takeaways from the study:
1. Gmail users are techies
When users were asked to "describe your relationship with techno-gadgets and gizmos," 66 percent of Gmail users said they "love them," as compared to 47 percent for Yahoo! and Hotmail, and 42 percent for AOL. Gmail users are also more likely to buy new gadgets when they're first released, whereas "non-Gmail users subscribe to the belief that 'if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,' especially if the new fix is cost-prohibitive."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
2. Gmail is for men; other services are for women
Of the four main email services, only Gmail users were more likely to be male than female. To get more specific, Gmail attracts liberal, college-educated males aged 18 to 34. The most common AOL user, meanwhile, was a 35- to 64-year-old woman. Hotmail attracts younger women who often live with their parents in the suburbs, while Yahoo! appeals to family-focused mothers who are younger than their AOL counterparts.
3. AOL and Yahoo! users are overweight
The aforementioned 35- to 64-year-old female AOL user is likely to be family-focused — and overweight. Yahoo! users, too, skew heavier than Hotmail and Gmail devotees.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
4. Employers frown on AOL
This study makes clear that "unless you have a custom domain connected to an elite alma mater or a professional website that hiring managers will find irresistible," it's best to use Gmail to apply for jobs, says Samantha Murphy at TechNewsDaily. Not only does AOL signify a bygone email age, it also has a bad reputation for sending out spam.
Sources: Hunch, Gawker, TechNewsDaily
-
Mountainhead: Jesse Armstrong's tech bro satire sparkles with 'weapons-grade zingers'
The Week Recommends The Succession creator's first feature film lacks the hit TV show's 'dramatic richness' – but makes for a horribly gripping watch
-
Seeing Each Other: Portraits of Artists – a 'riveting' exhibition
The Week Recommends Pallant House exhibition offers fascinating instances of painterly reciprocity
-
Geoff Dyer shares his favourite books on war
The Week Recommends Out of Sheer Rage author chooses works by Martha Gellhorn, Michael Herr and Dexter Filkins