It has become quite clear that Pinterest became the success that it is thanks to all the female pinners out there. It is still regarded as a social networking service ruled by female connectors. Naturally, what happens as a result of that is that the content is quite female oriented as well. However, there is an increasing number of male pinners signing up each day, and the prediction is that Pinterest will “lean” out eventually when it comes to the huge gap in both the number of gender oriented sharings as well as users. Of course, nobody knows when exactly that will happen though. There are of course some predictions, but I don’t think it would be very wise printing them here since they are just that, predictions.
It’s interesting how guys seem to hold off signing up for Pinterest, or at least getting an invitation. Personally, I have no clue why that is. The platform is excellent for any kind of brand and for personal content discovery. It doesn’t matter if you are a guy or a girl, man or woman, there is content available for everyone and everything, it’s just not in the same quantity. I believe that in order for the platform to become more cross gendered, Pinterest needs to promote the more male oriented content in order for the guys out there to understand what the platform is all about. Even though it is of course about the content, it’s also the perception that it is a “girlish” social networking service that keeps it from evolving to a higher level.
I have been thinking about this quite a lot when I am pinning things to my own boards on Pinterest. So much so that today I actually set out to find something that would totally promote Pinterest more to the male side of the social networking community. I managed to find an infographic that will guide you to the content more suited for men. I know, it sounds weird that content could ever be gender oriented, but we must not forget that Pinterest’s entire success is heavily resting on the female community and their eagerness to share female oriented content such as fashion, interior design and lots more.
This infographic, called A Few Ways That Men Can Use Pinterest, was put together by JM Block. It will show you at least 9 things that Pinterest can help introduce to guys. Surprisingly, it steps you through cross gender topics like movies, books and exercise, which is another giveaway that the perception that Pinterest is only for girls is quite false. Sure, there are many things shared on Pinterest that are about female fashion etc., but that is because so few men have joined the service so far. There are almost no fashion sharings for men since the pinboards are flooded with female fashion.
It’s up to anyone whether Pinterest should remain dominated by female networkers, rather than becoming a cross gender social networking platform. I guess we need to start looking at Pinterest from another angle. This platform just doesn’t match the conventional way of looking at social networking services. This is something new that needs its own category. The users are always the ones who decide where things are heading, and so will be the case with Pinterest. It’s all about perception and content. So, I would say to all boys, guys and men out there, Pinterest is a badass place to discover new trends, news and content. Stop pretending it’s for girls. It simply isn’t.
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