Nielsen’s State of the Media: Social Media Report 2012 is out and Pinterest data piqued my interest. It’s no surprise to pretty much anyone breathing that Pinterest had the largest year-over-year increase in audience and time spent of any social network, across PC, mobile web and apps. And for anyone who has ever ventured over to Pinterest “just for a minute or two,” that crack cocaine is darn hard to resist.
Just what is it that makes Pinterest so addictive? Is it the thousands upon thousands of pictures that make the website impossible to resist? Or is it the ability to share and pin these images in a way that makes them our own? For Ben Silberman, Pinterest co-founder, it’s both—and, judging by the site’s explosive growth, those two factors are what draw the site’s active and loyal audience.
Silberman, Paul Sciarra and designer Evan Sharp quit their day jobs in 2009 and began working on Pinterest from a small, shared apartment in Palo Alto. The site launched in 2010 on an invitation-only basis and attracted a mere 200 users in its earliest months. The site began to grow from there, accelerating at a whirlwind pace. By February 2012, Pinterest crossed the 10 million-user mark faster than any other standalone site in history—and as of July 2012, the site reached a unique U.S. audience of more than 27 million, as pictured below:
Today Pinterest isn’t just used by the like-minded individuals who want a medium to collect, organize and share meaningful things. Like most other social media networks, Pinterest has become a business tool with which marketers are extending a brand’s presence in a more visual, shareable way. And the site’s increasingly widespread use has resulted in a host of fascinating stats, as collected in Nielsen’s latest report:
- Computer users spent 1,255,225,000 minutes on Pinterest in 2012.
- Pinterest’s user base is largely female (not surprising, right?). The 2012 U.S. audience composition is 30% male, 70% female. Thirty-one percent of the site’s user base is ages 35 to 49, followed by 24% in both the 25-34 and 50-64 age categories.
- Pinterest has seen a 1,698% increase in mobile app-based users.
- App users spent 720,973,000 minutes on Pinterest.
- Mobile device users racked up 120,486,000 minutes on the site.
Check out the Nielsen report for even more interesting stats on Pinterest and other sites throughout the social web, too. We’re interested in seeing what 2013 holds for Pinterest, especially in light of the company’s promise to introduce additional tools for businesses. And don’t worry—you know you’ll be the first to hear not only what we learn but also what we think. After all, have you ever known me to not have an opinion on something? Exactly. Oh, and by the way, we want your opinions, too. Always.
Shelly Kramer is a Principal Analyst and Founding Partner at Futurum Research. A serial entrepreneur with a technology centric focus, she has worked alongside some of the world’s largest brands to embrace disruption and spur innovation, understand and address the realities of the connected customer, and help navigate the process of digital transformation. She brings 20 years’ experience as a brand strategist to her work at Futurum, and has deep experience helping global companies with marketing challenges, GTM strategies, messaging develoment, and driving strategy and digital transformation for B2B brands across multiple verticals. Shelly’s coverage areas include Collaboration/CX/SaaS, platforms, ESG, and Cybersecurity, as well as topics and trends related to the Future of Work, the transformation of the workplace and how people and technology are driving that transformation. A transplanted New Yorker, she has learned to love life in the Midwest, and has firsthand experience that some of the most innovative minds and most successful companies in the world also happen to live in “flyover country.”