Contradicting many assumptions, a new survey found that the typical Internet user is a woman.

Analysts from Media Metrix, Inc. and Jupiter Communications examined women's online behavioral patterns across various age groups and life stages and found:

• The number of women online surpassed that of men for the first time ever in the first quarter of 2000 in the United States.

• The population of women online is growing more rapidly than the online population overall.

• Girls between ages 2 and 11 are most heavily concentrated within television-related Web sites, licensed merchandise, music and learning.

• The most notable increase by age group from 1999 to 2000 was among teen girls 12–17, a segment that increased more than 125%.

• Sites with the highest composition of females 12–17 remain firmly clustered around several key user interests: teen-targeted fashion magazines, shopping and music. The number of teens increased 126.3% over the past 12 months.

• The number of females age 18–24, on the other hand, decreased slightly during the same period.

• Women 55 and older have the highest audience share within family, health, genealogy and joke/fun pages.

• Online behavior among women in Europe reflects the experience in the United States. Like American women, European women use the Internet to gather specific information to make their lives easier, rather than surfing indiscriminately across many different sites. Among the most popular sites for women in Europe are those with information on retail, careers and travel.

"It's no longer enough to think of women as the target audience. To reach the women's market sites must pursue deeper relationships, based on interests, personal identities and affinities," said Anya Sacharow, an analyst at Jupiter Communications. "The sites that will be most successful in capturing future potential revenue from this market will target women through deeper segmentation."

Top Web and Digital Media Properties Among Women 18+