Why is there a sudden interest in Pinterest?
Pinterest is a virtual pinboard where you "pin" images of your interest and follow other pins (or collections) of similar interest. If you are following the buzz, you already are amazed by the meteoric growth of this new social networking site. The following stats reveal the dream numbers for any web-based application:
- Pinterest drives more referral traffic than Google Plus, LinkedIn and YouTube combined.
- Pinterest hits 10 Million US monthly visitors faster than any standalone site ever
- Pinterest is sticky - average time spent by a user on Pinterest is about 98 minutes (only 3rd after Facebook and similar site, Tumblr)
The site is still invite only. Getting an invite is not difficult, however... but, still!
How Did It All start?
According to Wikipedia:
"Work on Pinterest began in December 2009 and the site launched as a closed beta in March 2010. The site proceeded to operate in invitation-only open beta. Later, the site made registration possible after an email request. On August 16, 2011, Timemagazine published Pinterest in its "50 Best Websites of 2011" column."
Pinterest is well-funded. It has raised two rounds of fundings ( $10 million from Bessemer Venture Partners) and recently (Oct 2011) $27 million with Andreessen Horowitz, which values the company at $200 million. (Exclusive report on AllthingsD)
According to TechCrunch, and exclusive stats it received from ComScore, Pinterest had 11.7 million unique monthly visitors in January 2011. That's up from only 7.5 million in December...and a scant 418,000 last May.
The majority of traffic that comes to Pinterest is from the United States (66% Alexa.com ). Popularized, as site mostly surfed by women, the site is gaining mainstream attention from Brands, and Ecommerce sites that find the discovery element in Pinterest very interesting.
No doubt, Pinterest is a social network that we will see, and hear of a lot in 2012. In next few posts, I will write some specific uses cases, and explore how brands are using Pinterest. Are you Pinteresting? If yes, Like the post and let us know your experience.
09 Feb 2012
