Pinterest – The New Fad?

When you hear social media, you typically think of Facebook and Twitter. However, Pinterest is emerging behind the big players and is gaining popularity away from the spotlight. Until now.

According to the latest Experian Hitwise figures for UK online traffic in January, the biggest winner in the Social Networking and Forums category is Pinterest – the online photo sharing platform. The site, which can best be described as a virtual pinboard, saw a hefty 68% growth in traffic last month, as 1.9m visitors logged onto it in January, whereas in the US it hit the 12m visitors mark. Currently, Pinterest stands at number 46 among the top 50 social networking sites.

Apparently, Pinterest is more appealing to women, as 97% of its Facebook likes are generated by females, while nearly two-thirds of users are between 25 and 44 years of age. Overall more than one million users have liked the site, technology site Techcrunch reveals.

Pinterest’s popularity soared in 2011, as its 50,000 users in March had multiplied to 11m by December. At present users can only join Pinterest if invited, but invitations are sent a couple of days after signing up.

Experts think that users are attracted by the creativity and originality of the platform, as more of them have grown tired of text-based sharing. Pinterest, which is sometimes described as the visual alternative of Twitter, encourages users to be imaginative and to express themselves in a way other social platforms do not provide.