I'm sure there's a truckload of sales and marketing data out there based on polls, focus groups, hocus-pocus groups, research studies, academic think tanks, etc. comparing magazine purchasing habits and readership across gender lines. Recently I was sitting in a mall food court making a huge dent in a chocolate croissant, contemplating my lack of curling skills, when I noticed the magazine stand just ten feet away from me. The women's magazines must outnumber the men's by at least 10 to 1. Can we deduce anything of value from this observation? Do men read novels, dictionaries, phone books and lavatory walls, or do they prefer newspapers or or online information? Are men simply morons and don't read at all? I can't believe that! Maybe they hate spending the money it costs to buy a typically over-priced magazine? To be truthful, there are a few men's magazines -- some computer ones, audio, car, health and business, and of course, a number of girlie mags, but compared to what's available for the ladies, there really ain't much. I pointed out this little observation to the IGotNewsForYou gang and suggested that in case they hadn't noticed, men and women are quite different (a couple of them apparently hadn't noticed, which is a whole other story). I wondered outloud how many men buy traditional greeting cards on their own, that is, not when told by their significant others to get down to the mall and buy a get-well card for Aunt Bertha. What about e-cards? Do men send these? Do they like receiving them? I really have no clue. Well, to be fair, I hate shopping for gift cards, but I do have to do it on occasion. And I've sent the odd e-card but never found any that were particularly brilliant. IGotNewsForYou is something like an e-card or a magazine or a newspaper page. It is also a unique, clever and very funny gift idea. Will the majority of our IGotNewsForYou page creators be men or will the ladies get into it? What about the recipients? Will the majority be male or female? Will it split fairly evenly across the genders? I guess time will tell. We have an idea from our own, unscientific research, but it's still going to be something we are extremely interested in and watch carefully. Right now I have an hour or two to kill before the wife comes home from shopping...I wonder what's on the tube. (Technorati Tags: gift cards, e-cards, buying habits)