Although boys and girls at this age share common interests, gender differences begin to emerge as they explore the Net. The top five Web sites mentioned by this age group in Young Canadians In A Wired World: The Students' View are:

Boys:

1. yahoo/yahooligans.com
2. hotmail.com
3. napster.com
4. foxkids.com
5. shockwave.com

Girls:

1. hotmail.com
2. yahoo/yahooligans.com
3. neopets.com
4. msn.com
5. napster.com and ytv.com (tie)

• Television plays a significant role in directing kids to Web sites for TV stations and TV shows, but broader interests are beginning to emerge.
  
  
• Boys and girls at this age are beginning to discover the Net's potential for accessing free games, music and software. Boys are twice as likely as girls to visit Web sites like napster.com and shockwave.com looking for "freebies."
  
  
• Socializing through e-mail and instant messaging is an important part of Net culture. This is especially so for girls, who are twice as likely to visit Web sites like hotmail.com, icq.com and msn.com to interact online with friends.
  
  
• Visiting multi-purpose portal sites such as yahoo.com and yahooligans.com is popular with both girls and boys in this age group.
  
  
• The single most popular online activity for 11- and 12-year-old boys is visiting sports-related Web sites. Boys at this age are also actively discovering game culture on the Net, as they visit Web sites offering online games and cheat codes for popular video games.
  
  
• Music is becoming a preoccupation for girls at this age, who mention visiting music-related Web sites as a favourite online activity.
  
  
• Web sites for kids and teens are popular with boys and girls in this age group, with boys discovering the world of attitude-laden or gruesome humour and games sites like stickdeath.com and newgrounds.com.