Men and women are frequently targeted by local online marketers for different applications. Men are generally thought to be more interested in tech, news, cars and just surfing around. Women are thought to be less interested in aimless surfing, but are more interested in community, shopping/coupons, health services and real estate.

ShopLocal, Insider’s Pages and Realtor.com, for instance, each believe they are reaching significantly more women than men. To me, it is still safe to generalize like this. But an updated 2005 study by The Pew Internet Project, based on 6,403 surveys with a margin of error of 2+-, suggests the differences in men and women online are becoming less pronounced.

From a local vantage point, the study contains several little surprises. For instance, user-review services such as Judy’s Book and Insider Pages are largely aimed at women. But the new Pew findings suggest that men are actually more likely to “rate a product, service or person.” 33 percent of online men say they do it; 28 percent of online women.

The study also found that online maps and directions are becoming universally used, but especially by women. Eighty-seven percent of online women use these services, compared to 82 percent of men. The study also didn’t find significant differences in the extent that men and women use shopping services, which I am sure is news to the many sites targeting local shoppers.

What’s the explanation for all this? Some of it is simply a measurement of the comfort level that people have with the Internet as they gain experience. But some it may be in the very generic way that Pew asks its questions, and the groupings of the categories. For 2006, I’d like to see Pew get more specific in regard to the local applications.