Pinterest is currently the third most popular social network; the free app allows users to collect ideas for projects and interests. You can browse others interests and see what photos and videos they have liked, according to themes and topics. It contains visual bookmarks which allow you to save your ‘pins‘ as well as share them.
A recent advert shows how the app now has updates features which allow you to send messages, whereas before it was one sided as you could not directly interact. The company‘s decision on this update has been controversial, although the ad looks appealing for those who wish to interact more on Pinterest, others may disapprove of the changes.
Pinterest user Ashley Morgan described the site as being of lower maintenance in comparison to Twitter and Facebook for example, so therefore preferred it as social media was too time consuming. “It was a beautifully anonymous way to keep track of interests, hobbies, pictures, recipes & ideas. Now I‘ve got people messaging me, sending me pins…it‘s kind of annoying.”
Currently the demographics of the app show that it is mostly female orientated, with 80% of users being women and only 20% being men. Due to this, Pinterest are now marketing to make the app more appealing for males. Pinterest have begun to greet new users with images of male users, one promotion shows a man running “He used Pinterest to find his stride” it read. “If they just try to shove pins down men‘s throats, fundamentally that is not going to work to attract men,” said Brian Blau, an analyst with Gartner. “Pinterest as it is just doesn‘t appeal to them.” As the site has been most popular with women, the company decided to reach out to men as they want Pinterest to be more gender neutral. The problem is that even the layout of the site feels feminine; it is described by Blau as ‘cutesy‘, already discouraging men from signing up.
In order to try and attract more of a male audience, there could be the risk of losing users who are already happy with Pinterest being occupied with flowers, cupcakes, weddings and shoes.
So is it worth it to try and make this social networking site more suited to men as well or should it be left alone? Only time can tell if the marketing tactics of the site work and successfully attract more men to the site.
In May 2014 Pinterest was valued at $5 billion and also won the best social media app and people‘s voice award for best functioning visual design. Also a fun fact, Barack and Michelle Obama both have Pinterest accounts.
