Top Bar Menu
MailFacebookTwitterLinkedin
Login
VerifeedVerifeed
Verifeed
Strategic Social Intelligence
  • Home
  • Who We Are
    • Our Team
    • Mission | Vision | Values
  • What We Do
    • Verifeed: Consulting Retainers and Strategic Social Playbooks
    • Return on Authenticity™
  • Why It Matters
    • Case StudiesDiscover ways how Verifeed uncovered valuable information for its clients:
      • Find My ‘Believers’
      • Predictive Insights
      • Anyone for a #SwimBikeRun?
      • Knowing the Power of Influence
      • Who Needs a Hug?
      • A Market We Didn’t Know We Had!
      • Turning a Negative into a Positive
  • Blog
  • Contact
 
  • Home
  • Who We Are
    • Our Team
    • Mission | Vision | Values
  • What We Do
    • Verifeed: Consulting Retainers and Strategic Social Playbooks
    • Return on Authenticity™
  • Why It Matters
    • Case StudiesDiscover ways how Verifeed uncovered valuable information for its clients:
      • FIND MY ‘BELIEVERS’
      • PREDICTIVE INSIGHTS
      • Anyone for a #SwimBikeRun?
      • Knowing the Power of Influence
      • Who Needs a Hug?
      • A Market We Didn’t Know We Had!
      • Turning a Negative into a Positive
  • Blog
  • Contact Us

Getting girls to code

Tech Companies: Put your 'mouths where your money is' - and use your "social" influence

February 25, 2015Leave a commentFeatured, Influencer MarketingBy Melinda Wittstock

When it comes to computer programming, almost half the world is…missing.

Technology giants Google, Intel, Facebook, Twitter, Apple and Microsoft among them readily bemoan the absence of female coders, engineers and data scientists in driving continued growth and innovation. Many have pledged multi-millions to encourage girls to code, yet Verifeed found these companies to be virtually absent from social conversations where their impact on girls themselves is most felt.

Why the social silence?

If companies are serious about getting girls into high school computer science classes and beyond, they need to meet those girls where they are – on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Snapchat, and Facebook. Moreover, they need to find a way to connect authentically in those social conversations and change the dialogue to make coding “cool” for girls.

Verifeed analyzed the entire Twitter “firehose” to unearth and understand the “who” and “what” talking about “girls who code”, women in tech, STEM, closing the gender gap in computer and data science and other relevant themes.

What we found over three months and tens of thousands of Tweets was shocking: Barring two Tweets from IBM (@IBMResearch, @IBMTraining), one from CraigsList founder Craig Newmark, and one from Microsoft (@MsftCitizenship), none of the Silicon Valley giants or fast-scaling tech startups, were in the conversation at all.

Instead, a young high school senior from Manhattan, who had taken part in Girls Who Code summer immersion program last year, was the biggest influencer of the social media Twitter chatter.

Laura Willson – Next Gen Innovator

Laura Willson, who attends St. Baptiste High School, Tweeted #STEM, #girlswhocode, and #girlscode and in just four weeks in September 2014, Willson actively engaged 2,558,218 people with 38 Tweets.

So why wasn’t Google or Intel talking with her – and the 2 million plus she was influencing? Google pledged $50 million to its Made with Code program launched in January ostensibly to address the fact only 17% of its tech team is female. And chipmaker Intel pledged $300 million. Their Diversity in Technology campaign seeks no less than full representation by women and minorities in the company by 2020.

What a lost opportunity to inspire the next generation of talent.

Think of the incalculable value left on the table in the tech companies’ collective failure to be relevant to these girls, who could be their future innovators as well as their future customers.

Hungry for Opportunity: Girls Who Code amplifies on Twitter

Might there be a higher-impact and more cost-effective “change hearts and minds” targeted interaction strategy on social media? A way to boost from just 12% the proportion of women graduating from college in computer science? We think so.

Right now many of the biggest tech companies are putting their money towards the exemplary efforts of the non-profit Girls Who Code, where our top influencer first Laura Willson started coding. The organization will mentor 1,200 girls in its intensive seven-week Summer Immersion coding programs sponsored by tech companies. It aims to reach 1 million young women by 2020 and is backed by the “who’s who” of tech and some other big names, including Accenture, Adobe, AIG, Akamai, AOL, AppNexus, AT&T, BSA, Craigslist, eBay, Electronic Arts, Expedia, Facebook, GE, Goldman Sachs, Google, Groupon, IAC, IBM, Lockheed Martin, MassMutual, Microsoft, Moody’s, Pixar Animation Studios, Square, The Honest Company, Twitter, Viacom, Intel, Intuit and Verizon.

It is time to get those @GirlsWhoCode corporate sponsors Tweeting and sharing with the girls they want to reach. But how?

Verifeed social intelligence found some clues in the chatter data. Increasing numbers of girls want to code, and they’re making it “cool” and influencing their friends to join them. While Tweet about #GirlsWhoCode summer immersion courses were the most shared, with one in January engaging 237,099 people, the Tweets that resonate the most and amplify the furthest with the girls themselves were those praising girls for coding.

“I am a girl who codes” http://t.co/1C60QBaNbW a very cool blog by @Willson_Laura97 congrats! #STEM #STEMwomen @42born2code #EmTechMIT

When Verifeed started monitoring conversations in September, individual Tweets were amplifying to thousands. But in January when Tweets about #girlswhocode summer coding camps were coming fast and furious, overall numbers of people being reached by individual Tweets climbed into the hundreds of thousands.

But Willson’s numbers were still sizeable, with Verifeed finding she had reached 1,983,346 people with 23 Tweets.

Verifeed Influence algorithms measure engagement

In comparison, Sandy Carter, Vice President of IBM, reflected the excitement around the Girls Who Code announcement in January, with a Twitter reach of 871,763 people with three Tweets. ESO Computing rounded out the top three with 695,576 people being reached with 23 Tweets.

Despite the investment of people and time by the big tech brands, perhaps Laura Willson is the one person who understands the power of social media in changing hearts and minds. She lives and breathes computer science and she wants other young women to see themselves this way, too.

“A shocking 73% of women in tech report feeling like an outsider, compared to 17 percent of men #witi #girlswhocode” Tweeted IBM’s @sandy_carter.

Meantime, a University of Washington STEM Psychology study found that “the stereotype attached to programmers is inconsistent with how women see themselves and how they want others to see them.”

And then there’s Hollywood, with its pervasive stereotype of the “genius coding nerd” as the awkward male loner in the corner. No young girl aspires to that.

So what if we could create a “Katniss of Code?”

These are girls who are cool, bright, and code on their own terms. They are out there on Twitter, Instagram and beyond, and there’s an opportunity for tech companies (including Twitter) to “put their mouths where their money is” to engage them where they meet their friends – on social.

Social affords a precision-targeted opportunity for tech companies – not to mention fashion, beauty and other brands relevant to 13-20 year old girls – to verify their relevance to aspiring female computer and data scientists – and with it inspire a generation of their future innovators and with it loyal future customers.

Melinda Wittstock is the founder and CEO of Verifeed, always looking for female tech talent!
Cathryn Atkinson, a journalist who loves ‘Big Data’ and social media, is a Verifeed contributor.

#socialmediaApplecomputer engineeringcomputer sciencedata scienceDellFacebookgender gapGirls Who CodeGoogleIBMIntelsocial datasocial mediasocial media marketingSTEMTwitterwomen in techwomen in technology
Share this post
FacebookTwitterGoogle+PinterestLinkedIn
About the author

Melinda Wittstock

Melinda has helped countless companies find their "believer" customers, accelerate conversions and build valuable brand buzz. She's a "recovering journalist", data science nerd, serial entrepreneur, and social media maven. Her personal mission to to help one million entrepreneurs, solopreneurs and small business owners achieve wild success!

You may also like
Are you a Conversion Fanatic?
May 10, 2017
What’s Your ROA™?
March 3, 2017
Lenovo: Fame to Shame over Superfish
December 10, 2015
Don’t Sell! (If You Want Sales from Social)
November 14, 2015
Your Personal Brand – on Twitter
October 21, 2015
Growing Customers with Twitter
October 10, 2015
Leave Comment

Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

clear formSubmit

ABOUT VERIFEED

who-we-are

SEEKING VALUABLE INTELLIGENCE IS IN OUR DNA

Verifeed was founded by serial entrepreneur Melinda Wittstock. Her ability to ask revealing questions led to an award-winning career in journalism with the Times of London, BBC, CNBC and ABC.

Find Out More

BLOG CATEGORIES
  • Best Practices(9)
  • Business Innovation(9)
  • Featured on Home Page(4)
  • Influencer Marketing(7)
  • Predictive Intelligence(7)
  • Return on Authenticity™(4)
FEATURED POSTS
  • Are you a Conversion Fanatic?
    May 10, 2017
  • What’s Your ROA™?
    March 3, 2017
  • Don’t Sell! (If You Want Sales from Social)
    November 14, 2015
  • Your Personal Brand – on Twitter
    October 21, 2015
  • Growing Customers with Twitter
    October 10, 2015
  • Getting girls to code
    February 25, 2015
RECENT POSTS
  • Attn: Entrepreneurs and Visionary Innovators
  • Being Authentic in a “Fake News” World
  • Concierge Moments in a C2B World
  • Are you a Conversion Fanatic?
  • What’s Your ROA™?
  • Beyond Vanity Metrics: What’s Your Return from Social Media?
BLOG ARCHIVES
  • August 2017 (1)
  • June 2017 (1)
  • May 2017 (2)
  • March 2017 (1)
  • June 2016 (2)
  • May 2016 (1)
  • April 2016 (1)
  • March 2016 (1)
  • February 2016 (2)
  • January 2016 (1)
  • December 2015 (2)
  • November 2015 (3)
  • October 2015 (2)
  • March 2015 (1)
  • February 2015 (1)
  • January 2015 (19)
TAG CLOUD
#blacklivesmatter #socialmedia authenticity banking banks big data brand CEO computer engineering computer science crisis management customer acquisition data science Facebook finance free webinar gratitude growthhacking influencer influencers influencer targeting instagram lead gen lead generation linkedin personal brand personal branding pinterest reputation management Return on Authenticity ROA small business small business owners snapchat social Social CEO social data social listening social marketing social media social media marketing social media optimization thanksgiving Twitter webinar
ABOUT VERIFEED
who-we-are
SEEKING VALUABLE INTELLIGENCE IS IN OUR DNA
As an award-winner journalist, Melinda saw the value of understanding and forecasting business trends based on conversations people were having on social media. She used this insight to create Verifeed so that businesses could develop powerful predictive strategies.

CONNECT with VERIFEED:

Find us on:

FacebookTwitterLinkedinMail
RECENT TWEETS
  • Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions. – Albert Einstein10 days ago
  • #socialdata news Twitter launches a Privacy Center to centralize its data protection efforts https://t.co/kpfK3UZgqH10 days ago
  • #socialdata news Facebook launches a photo portability tool, starting in Ireland https://t.co/NRqtG5ubuL10 days ago
USEFUL INFORMATION
  • Who We Are
  • What We Do
  • Why It Matters
  • Case Studies
  • Tell Me More
  • Exclusive Masterclass
  • Verifeed’s Blog
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
Verifeed
Copyright © 2018 Verifeed, LLC - All Rights Reserved.

Digital BlueMoon