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Pinterest Continues Its Manhunt, Touts Growth Among U.S. Males

The number of U.S. men on the social bookmarking network increased 73% in 2014, Pinterest says. The company is working to adjust the site's gender imbalance.

Martin Beck on January 23, 2015 at 2:11 pm

Pinterest is still looking for a few more good men.

The social bookmarking site has a hammerlock on women — Pew Research found that 42% of online U.S. women use the site — but Pinterest still seen as rarely-go-zone for men. The Pew study found only 13% of men use Pinterest.

That could be an issue for brands hoping to use Pinterest to reach the full spectrum of the marketplace. The company released its CPM-based ad product Promoted Pins in the U.S. this month.

Pinterest has been taking steps to adjust the female-to-male imbalance, making the site more gender neutral, adjusting the new user onboarding process to give gender based content suggestions and as we reported yesterday, serving different search results for men and women.

Today the company released new details about how its manhunt is progressing, in an email to Marketing Land, and officially announced the news about gender-based search.

The company said the search changes now apply gender filtering to thousands of queries.

“So if you search for topics like “watches”,
“health”, “fashion”, “tattoos”, you’ll see Pins based on what other
men or women are Pinning to those categories,” a spokesperson wrote in an email. “The search guides will also change to show you relevant suggestions to guide you in your search.”

The company said the changes have led to a double-digit lift in engagement.

Pinterest’s U.S. Male Users Increased 73% In 2014

Pinterest said that its male user numbers in the United States increased 73% in 2014. It also said that it is gaining users — both male and female — more rapidly on the coasts. New York, for example, is growing 50% faster than Minnesota, and Washington, D.C. 78% faster than Utah. Monthly active users are increasing fastest in Hawaii, New Jersey, Maryland, New York and Rhode Island.

Pinterest also released details about what men on Pinterest are interested in, which could be valuable information for marketers targeting that niche. The company also presented growth data for categories that might be considered male oriented.

Top Interests Followed By Men

men’s apparel
technology
travel
gardening
recipes
gadgets
design
luxury cars
tattoos
camping

Percentage Growth In Categories From 2013-2014

Geek: 175%
Cars & Motorcycles: 134%
Men’s Fashion: 122%
Architecture: 119%
Gardening: 91%
Humor: 88%
Health & Fitness: 84%

Percentage Growth In Categories From 2012-2014

Geek: 1414%
Cars & Motorcycles: 844%
Men’s Fashion: 787%
Architecture: 657%
Health & Fitness: 531%
Gardening: 572%
Humor: 427%

About The Author

Martin Beck

Martin Beck was Third Door Media's Social Media Reporter from March 2014 through December 2015.