Just in case you’ve been living under a rock, or you haven’t had the time to find out what all the fuss is about… Pinterest is a red hot social networking site.
Its popularity has exploded since March 2010 when it was first launched, and it’s now the third most popular social media platform behind Facebook and Twitter.
As explained in Pinterest for Beginners, Pinterest is a ‘virtual Pinboard’ and that enables you the to organize and share beautiful or inspiring images from right around the web to create snapshots of your life and loves.
Or as I’ve heard others describe it…
Pinterest is like sitting around with your friends, flicking through magazines and pointing out your favourite shoes, kitchen ideas, recipes, dream holiday spots and more…and then your mates can give it the nod or want to know exactly where they can get it, right now!
The other nifty part about Pinterest is that others can follow you, making it great for wine, food & tourism marketing. But we’ll get into that in another blog.
“I just loooovvvvvveeeee Pinterest”
I’d be amazed if you haven’t had multiple friends of the female persuasion say to you in the last 6 months to a year…
Oh my goodness, I’ve just found Pinterest and now I’m OBSESSED!!
And your female friends are not alone. Some estimate that 70% of Pinterest’s users women, others 80% and some as high as 97%.
Not that blokes don’t use it, but they definitely don’t make up the majority of pinners.
So why do we chicks dig it?
It looks good & it’s useful!
With all of the beautiful pictures, Pinterest is incredibly visually appealing and is easy on the eye.
With Pinterest, you can also find a bunch of useful stuff on there, including how to cook fabulous recipes (Food porn as one article describes it!)
So if you’ve got a big party coming up – you can make a board for that. Planning your holiday, that’s covered too. Time to revamp your kitchen…yep that too.
Sit back & relax
It’s all about indulging your hobbies on Pinterest, rather than keeping up with what others are doing.
And it keeps all of your loves front and centre, not letting them slip into obscurity at the bottom of a Twitter or Facebook newsfeed.
For those who have always loved cutting out photos from magazines and making scrapbooks or pinboards – this is the ultimate online version of their existing hobby… without the scissors, glue and paper cuts!
Trust, trust, trust
It’s no secret that women love recommendations (see Gender Communication in Social Media) particularly from their friends or others they trust.
And according to BlogHer’s annual study, when asked whether they trusted different social media sources, 81 percent of women said they trust what they find on Pinterest, whereas only 67 percent said they trusted Facebook and 73 percent trust Twitter.
Men are from Mars
As with a lot of things, Pinterest appeals more to females than males because of their physiological makeup.
In an interesting article I found recently, they claim it’s down to the simple fact that men love hunting while women love gathering.
And boy, is Pinterest all about the gathering! Females are more inclined to stay active on it because it’s not about winning or having an ‘end’ point, it’s the fun of gathering all of your favourite goodies.
It’s still growing…
The amazing part about Pinterest, is that while there are now over 10 million users, it’s general adoption is still relatively low so it has a lot of potential.
And what’s even funnier – it was created by 3 men!!!
Until next time…..
