Pinterest Facts

Pinterest Facts Infographics

Ben Silbermann owns Pinterest, which he co-founded with 3 other businessmen.

Silbermann started the project in 2009 with American Internet entrepreneurs Paul Sciarra and Evan Sharp. In March 2010, they opened the site to a few public members in a restricted beta format. Then, it shifted to an open beta format where users can only access the website through an invitation from a registered member.

Pinterest’s first 5,000 users experienced close engagements with Ben Silbermann.

Upon the app’s launching, Pinterest co-founder and owner sent the app’s first users his personal email, along with contact details. Moreover, the lucky users could reach Silbermann’s mobile number, should they wish to discuss Pinterest matters.

Pinterest had 10,000 users within 9 months of its launching date.

It seems that the direct contact that Silbermann offered with a few users paid off. Even with Silbermann and a few programmers operating Pinterest from a flat, Pinterest already gathered over 100,000 regular users.

Silbermann’s first attempt to sell Pinterest failed.

While the deal didn’t work out with the targeted New York publishing company, numerous investors now fund Pinterest. Some of these entrepreneurs are Bebo’s Michael Birch, EventBrite’s Kevin Hartz, Yelp’s Jeremy Stoppelman, and FirstMark Capital.

As one of the largest visual social networks, Pinterest is commonly defined as a ‘drawer of ideas.’

Through this platform, users can share images, infographics, videos, and other types of predominantly visual content. This is also the reason why most Pinterest users are creatives who work on projects with the help of Pinterest ideas.

Around 95% of Pinterest users claim that the platform inspires them.

Meanwhile, 91% of Pinterest users claim that it helps them achieve their goals. Either way, this shows that people use the platform to look for ideas and plans for special events. Brands can utilize this by providing Pinterest content that offers solutions for their customers’ daily lives.

Pinterest stock trades in NYSE under the ticket PINS.

On a year-to-date basis, the Pinterest stock gained 4.2% on May 7th with a closing price of $18.70 and a market cap of $11.4 billion. RiverPark advisors even believe that Pinterest has the potential to go side-by-side with Facebook (NASDAQ: FB), Twitter (NYSE: TWTR), and Snap (NYSE: SNAP) by increased user engagement.

Pinterest IPO closed at $24.40 in its public debut in 2019.

This number is up by $5.40 from the Pinterest IPO of $19 each, equivalent to more than 28%. Pinterest made its public debut on the New York Stock Exchange on April 18, 2019.

Pinterest raised around $1.5 billion from the Pinterest IPO.

This sum was based on 75 million shares in the offering. Moreover, the underwriters of the Pinterest deal even had the option to purchase an additional 11.25 million shares.

Pinterest stock fell with the coronavirus revenue impact.

Unfortunately, the company counts as one of the global victims of the coronavirus pandemic. Pinterest posted a net loss of $141 million which is equivalent to 25 cents a share. It followed a loss in the year-earlier quarter worth $41 million or 33 cents a share.

Pinterest shares have reported a 5% decline over the past 3 months.

This trend went alongside the S&P 500 SPX,  -0.21% has declined by 14%. Pinterest’s Chief Financial Officer Todd Morganfeld’s statement confirmed the COVID-19 outbreak’s impact on their business and its shareholders.

The 2011 Pinterest logo was developed by Michael Deal and Juan Carlos Pagan.

At first, the company was satisfied with old Pinnterest logo’s curvy, shadowed text. Though they wanted to preserve the scripty font of the wordmark, they decided that they need something more out-of-the-box. Hence, the 2011 version removed the shadow altogether, opting for a solid, red script.

The 2017 Pinterest logo had an entirely different mood and character from its predecessor.

Pinterest’s 2017 logo debuted a classic, blocky text in place of the flowy one it was first known for. With this design modification, the company might have succeeded in its desire to rebrand its identity. The platform’s logo established that it wasa business-minded company, and not just a teenager’s mood board.

Pinterest has used the same “P” emblem for all versions of Pinterest logo.

A few critics raised their eyebrows at this design choice, stating that the icon did not fit the professional-looking altered wordmark. Comments even comically portrayed the icon and the wordmark as a hippie and businessman beside each other.

The Pinterest logo experienced creative conflict with the Path mobile app.

ccording to the mobile app’s representatives, Pinterest’s favicon was too similar to their icon, which could confuse consumers. Both icons featured a white script “P” above a red background. However, the only major difference was that Pinterest has its “P” in a circle, while Path had its “P” in a square with rounded corners.

Path filed an opposition in response to Pinterest’s application to register its emblem.

In July 2012, Pinterest successfully registered its controversial emblem with the US trademark office. Because of this, Path contested the trademark for the logo’s “P” element, but to no avail. Several years after the conflict, both companies remain to have the same ‘twin’ emblems to this day.

The 2011 Pinterest logo featured unique letters specifically drawn for the site’s wordmark.

For its 2011 logo, Pinterest debuted a completely unique font outside of the existing typefaces. Meanwhile, the 2017 Pinterest logo used the ready-made font Neue Haas Grotesk in Black weight. Some subtle modifications included a round title instead of a square and a new “s” to better compliment the wordmark’s “e.”

In July 2017, Pinterest rewrote the Pinterest app.

In its boldest move yet, Pinterest formed a team to rewrite the entire app from scratch as a Progressive Web App (PWA). This project promised to offer a better experience for people in low-bandwidth environments and those on limited data plans.

The new Pinterest Lite app was released in October 2019.

While it is actually the Progressive Web App (PWA) of the site, it has been made available for download on Google Play. This version aims to provide users with a faster download and an app that takes up less storage space on their device.

People with Pinterest careers are generally called ‘Pinployees.’

The company claims to owe its success on the ownership of every ‘Pinployee.’ In other words, each of them owns a Pinterest account that contributes to the whole community.

Flexible, generous holidays are just some of the benefits of Pinterest careers.

This package comes with a global year-end company holiday closure with pay. It also includes comprehensive medical, physical, and mental benefits not just for the Pinployees, but for their families as well.

Moreover, competitive Pinterest career benefits include a 404(k) retirement plan as well as various offerings for individual fitness goals.

Pinterest careers come with Pinterest-inspired onsite meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

For cultural events like studio nights, Pinployees also teach and learn Pinterest crafts and trades. In other words, the company provides an inclusive and empowering environment with community groups that create safe and fun spaces.

Pinterest is a proven valuable marketing tool for online retailers.

The platform indeed has a knack for attracting style-conscious people interested in industries like fashion and design. Moreover, Pinterest enables businesses to create professional pages that can be like interactive shop window displays for customers.

Pinterest is more popular with women.

Globally, the platform caters to a high majority of female users. However, some countries’ Pinterest demographics are predominantly male. Among other countries, the United Kingdom’s Pinterest population consists primarily of males.

Among all women, Pinterest is more popular with moms.

Generally, women comprise over ⅔ of the Pinterest users worldwide. This demographic further narrows down to a large following of mothers.

In the U.S. alone, 8 out of 10 moms use Pinterest. These figures further prove how women takes charge with household products and ideas.

Pinterest’s largest ad audience at 29% are women aged 25-34.

Middle-aged women make up roughly double of Pinterest’s second-largest ad audience. All in all, 71% of the platform’s ad audience are women while only 21% are men. The remaining 8% of users did not specify their gender.

Pinterest is the third-largest social network in the US.

The American image sharing platform ended 2019 by overtaking Snapchat on the list. Still, Facebook and Instagram maintain their hold on the top spots. Adding YouTube into the mix would drop Pinterest to the 4th place, however.

From 2018 to Q3 2019, Pinterest’s monthly active users grew by 38%.

As this figure involves the international users, it proves the strong global footprint of the image-sharing SNS. With the international market included, the total of Pinterest users jumped from 171 million to 235 million.

Pinterest continues to grow in numbers of users since 2018.

From 2018 to the present, the platform accumulated roughly 322 million monthly active users. This only shows how people now Pinterest more than ever.

In the U.S., high-income households tend to use Pinterest twice as likely as low-income households.

A Pew Research study revealed that the majority of Pinners earn over $75,000 USD a year. Likewise, adults with a college education are twice as likely to be on Pinterest than those with a lower educational attainment. In other words, Pinterest users have a disposable income more often than not.

Pinterest is the only social media site that offers visual search.

Such Pinterest facts only prove how efficient the platform is as a visual discovery engine. Also, this feature is all the more useful considering that 62% of the Gen Zs and millennials prefer being able to search by image.

In the U.S., Pinterest ranks as the 10th most relevant brand.

The 2019 Prophet Brand Relevance Index deemed the American image sharing site as the 10th most relevant brand worldwide. Pinterest managed to rank among industry giants like Apple, Android, Spotify, and Disney.

Pinterest was the only social platform to make it to the list’s top 10.

On the other hand, Pinterest ranked #1 in the survey’s categories labeled “Makes me feel inspired” and “Engages with me in new and creative ways.”

In 2019, Pinterest succeeded as a billion-dollar business.

The platform surpassed the 1 billion mark by earning $1.14 billion in total revenue in 2019. Between 2018 and 2019, Pinterest’s revenue grew by 51%, with a 46% spike around the end-of-year holidays. Further, Pinterest gained significant growth from increased demand from new advertisers and breakthroughs in its conversion optimization products.

Storytelling and how-to’s like Pinterest recipes are the most popular video formats.

The same 2017 Pinterest study also revealed that 67% of Pinner’s claim how videos inspire them to take action. A more recent study also showed that Promoted Videos compel people to watch 32% longer when it has a developing storyline.

Unbranded searches make up a 97% total of all searches done on Pinterest.

In other words, the majority of Pinners are open to discovering new products and ideas. Around 78% of Pinners perceive content from brands as useful as well, which proves how impressionable Pinterest users are as an audience.

Pinners show that content can be useful even when from brands that they do not know.

A 2019 survey gathered that ¾ of Pinners express being ‘very interested’ in new products. Further, this number is much higher than 55% of users found on other digital channels. This is yet another fact that shows how inspiring and compelling the platform can be in terms of a call to action.

Around 48% of Pinterest users have shopping as their top priority.

Real Pinners know that Pinterest is more of a search engine rather than a social network. This number of users has shopping as their top activity. At 48%, it ranks second only to viewing photos at 57%. Lesser priorities on Pinterest include sharing content, networking, and news.

Pinterest USA counts as the platform’s biggest spenders at $4.00 ARPU.

In 2019, the average revenue earned per user in the U.S. increased by 26%. This group significantly outspends international users who only have an average spending of $0.21 per head.

In 2019, the number of active Pinterest advertisers doubled.

The average revenue per user (ARPU) went up as well from 15% in 2018 to $1.22 in 2019. This spike in the number of advertisers prove how businesses effectively incorporate and utilize Pinterest.

Promoted pins aligned with holidays and life moments get a 22% lift in sales.

Pinterest revealed that special and seasonal moments drive a significant amount of activity on the platform. Some examples include weddings, holiday recipes, and vacations. Pinterest also appeals 4 times more than other social media sites to American consumers who use online resources for planning major home renovations.

A Pinterest user launched the “Pin It Forward” campaign in May 2010.

Organized by blogger Victoria Smith, this campaign was also recognized as some kind of ‘chain letter’ event. Participating bloggers exchanged pinboards about what home meant to them.

"Pin It Forward” counts as the first-ever Pinterest meet-up.

As the mind behind Pin It Forward, Victoria Smith, now serves as Pinterest’s community manager. Pinterest owner Silbermann stated that Pin It Forward gave him the “We’ve got it” moment of further growing the business.

Pinterest categories are essential optimization tools for businesses and marketing purposes.

These filters are important for organizing boards and searching ideas not only for business accounts but for personal ones as well. Still, contained Pins in each board must align with the category it is under.

Some personal users stick to the Pinterest everything category.

Nonetheless, they easily find information that can help them organize their next project. Following relevant boards and accounts also makes it easier to save ideas and plan purchases.

Both Pinterest food and drink make the 5 most popular Pinterest categories.

Statistics revealed that Pinterest food, drinks, flowers, and gifts attribute 47% of the total activity on the American image sharing platform.

Pinterest crafts also counts among the top 5 Pinterest categories as well.

Pinterest owes 48% of its traffic to Pinterest crafts, art, art supplies, and hobbies categories.

Clothing and Apparel Pinterest categories only make up 37% of user activity.

The rest of the most popular Pinterest categories are Home, Garden, and Pool/Spa at 45%, and Health and Beauty making up another 45%.

Pinterest everything is the easiest category to access.

Users would only need to click the little people icon in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. Then, a chronological feed of ‘everything’ would appear as pinned by the Following accounts.

Pins showing a product/service in action like Pinterest DIY are 67% more likely to drive sales.

Likewise, pins showing people using a product or service are much more likely to drive offline sales. Pinterest research also revealed that the clearer the product placement is, the probability of offline sales can increase by up to 20%.

It is ideal for Pinterest marketers to plan at least 30-45 days in advance.

As Pinners have a knack for planning ahead, Pinterest marketers must keep up by using a social media content calendar to line campaigns with holidays. Some examples are content for Pinterest Valentines ideas and Pinterest Halloween.

End-of-year holidays like Pinterest Christmas mark the platform’s busiest season.

Christmas is indeed the most wonderful time of the year, even for the image-sharing platform. With over 3 billion holiday-themed pins saved annually, search terms like ‘Christmas decorations’ and ‘winter outfits’ surge in popularity as well.

Pinterest wallpaper options can be downloaded from the app.

Users can download a Pinterest wallpaper by opening the desired picture then tapping the three-dot icon in the top-left corner. Then, select the Download image from the pop-up menu. For the first Pinterest downloads, it would ask for permission to access the device’s media. Once prompted, simply select ‘Allow’ to proceed with your download.

A Pinterest login serves as a gateway to search, see, and save Pins.

To access the Pinterest login, go to pinterest.com/login, then enter an existing account’s email address and password. A more convenient way is by clicking Continue with Facebook or Continue with Google, then click Log In with your preferred account.

A user’s Pinterest home suggests Pins, brands, and people that they might like.

The content on a Pinterest user’s home feed depends largely on a user’s recent activity. Moreover, this page shows Pins from people, boards, and topics that the user chose to follow.

Pinterest search shows relevant Pins to the keywords inputted.

For instance, typing the word ‘Camping’ into the Pinterest search bar would display various ideas related to that word. Results might include one-pot camping meals, packing checklists, and tips for camping with dogs.

Pins refer to ideas that Pinners find, create, and save on Pinterest from the Web.

Clicking through a Pin would bring the user to its landing page. It might be to show how to make a Pin or where to buy it. When people discover wanted Pins, they can save them to boards by clicking the red Save button.

Saved Pins are stored on Pinterest boards.

Users can name and arrange their boards however they want. Moreover, they can invite other people on the platform to collaborate on Group boards and find and collect more ideas.

Users can make a board secret.

Such Pinterest facts are helpful for when Pinners prefer to keep Pins in private, especially for planning surprises. A private board is only visible to the user and people that they have invited.

Related Pins refer to the relevant pins that appear below a Pin that a user originally tapped.

Pinterest Software Engineer Jenni Liu explained this feature as the Pinterest Rabbit Hole, since it displays endless results.

Rich Pins are there to provide more information on a Pin.

Additional details displayed by rich pins could range from price information or button installation. Rich Pins are available in 4 formats, namely: App Pins, Article Pins, Product Pins, and Recipe Pins.

Pinterest boards are like the digital-analog equivalent of mood boards.

Pinterest boards serve their purpose as group pins centered on a certain theme or topic. For instance, a user might create a Pinterest board for a product launch or seasonal content.

In Group boards, more than one Pinner can add content.

This is the Group board’s only difference from a regular Pinterest board. Despite its name, 98% of Pinterest group boards have less than five members.

Only its creator and invited collaborators can access a secret board.

As an indicator, a lock symbol appears beside the name of a secret board. Secret boards come in handy for planning things in private.

Pinterest restricts protected boards as only available to Pinterest advertisers.

These boards store promoted pins. Moreover, these Pins can be seen across the platform, but the protected boards do not show on profile pages.

The Pinterest Button lets people Pin any idea found anywhere around the Web.

Also known as the ‘Save Button,’ the Pinterest Button is handy in easily saving ideas that people can get back to later on. They can save things like dinner recipes, home projects, and style inspirations for people and events alike.

The Pinterest Lens is a built-in camera tool of Pinterest.

This tool allows users to take a picture of something and find related content on the platform. While it is like Shazam, Pinterest Lens is for images, operating on image recognition and machine learning technology. It is available both on Android and Apple devices as well.

Pinterest introduced another Lens-powered feature called Try On.

This tool applies augmented reality to enable Pinners ‘try on’ items that they see in Product Pins. For instance, women would virtually be able to try lipsticks on. Hence, this tool is a must-try for businesses with a product catalog.

The Pinterest dark mode was introduced in September 2019.

Available both on iOS and Android, the Pinterest dark mode feature darkens the app’s interface. The company revealed that this new feature was a response to Pinners who end their days by looking at inspirational and calming Pins before dozing off.

Pinterest listens to Pinners’ requests.

As they build new products and features, the company looks into requests from Pinners. The dark mode was at the top of the list the same way that Group Boards were before. Hence, Pinterest dark mode became an available option which is easier on the eyes, helpful with battery life, and is better for nighttime browsing.

You can activate Pinterest dark mode by going on your phone’s settings.

On iOS devices, select Display & Brightness, then the dark mode option. The Pinterest app would then follow the device’s theme set by default. Meanwhile, the Pinterest dark mode on Android can be activated by selecting dark mode on the Pinterest app settings.

Pincodes refer to Pinterest’s QR codes.

Like the Snapcode, Pincodes can be scanned digitally. It can be on displays on packages as well, and it would all link back to the user’s board or profile.

Laura Frantz’s Pinterest account is a perfect example of successful Pinterest marketing.

On the top row of her Pinterest boards, Laura Frantz markets her brand alongside her books. Moreover, she uses board collections to help draw her readers deeper into her writing pieces. This strategy furthers strengthens and builds a relationship between her books and her readers.

Laura Frantz's Pinterest shows a visualization of her historical fiction.

Pinterest turns out to be one of the many opportunities for her to leverage the platform in engaging with readers. Frantz also has the standard author boards that showcase each of her books. Further, these boards have a consistent look and feel that completes a successful branding for her audience.

Frantz’s boards easily portray the type of books she writes.

Laura Frantz organizes boards with colors, texts, and images following the theme of her novels. Such a level of consistency helps Laura Frantz’s Pinterest in establishing her brand identity.

Deleting a Pinterest account would erase the user’s profile and boards permanently.

Hence, to delete a Pinterest account is only advisable for those who wish to close their account for good. Business account owners would need to contact Pinterest directly to permanently close the account.

To delete a Pinterest account, click at the top and then select Edit Settings.

Then, click Account Settings towards the left side and select Deactivate Account under Account Changes. The Pinner would have to state the reason for deleting the account before they can close it by selecting Deactivate My Account.

Users who deleted their accounts can check if the said account is still active or not.

To do so, they must input profile URL on their browsers. However, logging in to the profile to check would only reactivate the account.

Deactivating an account would not free up the account's username and email address.

Still, users can change their usernames and email address if they want to. They only have to edit their Settings instead of deactivating the account.

Closing a Pinterest account would deactivate the public profile immediately.

Still, it takes 14 days for the account to be permanently closed. Should the Pinner change their mind, they have up to 14 days to reactivate.

Deactivated Pinners can reactivate by logging back in.

They only need to log in using their old email address and password. Then, Pinterest would send a link to the email address for the reactivation of the account.  However, the account’s board cannot be retrieved at this point.

Pinterest can deactivate a deceased family member’s account.

Legitimate family members would only need to get in touch with the company. Once Pinterest deactivates the account, it would not be accessible in any way. Moreover, Pinterest would not give out any personal or login information with respect to the privacy of the Pinner.

Pinterest makes money through Promoted Pins.

Promoted Pins serve as the official branded advertising of Pinterest. While these Promoted Pins are basically ads, they still look similar to user-generated Pins or posts. Due to these ads, Pinterest was able to generate $756 million in revenue in 2018 despite posting a net loss of $63 million.

Promoted Pins refer to regular pins that were paid to promote by certain companies.

With a ‘Promoted’ label, these pins appear in the home feed and search results as well. Promoted Pins can be in the form of videos, carousels, and app pins. It depends on the ad options that the company chooses.

Regular Pinners can make money on Pinterest as well.

One way of making money on Pinterest is by adding affiliate links when creating Pins. Affiliate Pinners can get a commission each time people make a purchase on something that they have shared.

Pinners can also use affiliate links when tagging products for a Shop the Look Pin. Just make Shop the Look Pins then join the ShopStyle Collective network to make money on Pinterest with this method.

Content contributors make money on Pinterest by working behind the scenes.

Not only do they help brands come up with new Pins, but they also assist brands without in-store creative teams and those who wish to try a new content style. Since these types of Pins usually do not reference the creator, content contributors would not get monetized.

A brand and creator can work together to make money on Pinterest through joint promotions.

Brands can collaborate with established Pinners to develop campaign strategies. Then, the final Pins could remain on either or both of the brand and the Pinner’s profiles. Many brands use this approach when they wish to grow their reach and get their products to the creator’s audience as well.

Creating a shared board with a brand is another way to profit from Pinterest.

This way, the shared boards appear on both the brand’s and creator’s profile. Usually, creators get paid a flat fee for the board curation that leverages their expertise, content, and audience reach.

When curating a Board, it is advisable to add a mix of the creator’s and the brand’s Pins.

It is also ideal to make a well-rounded board including content from various other Pinners to reach even more people.

A business account is a pre-requisite to reaching out to brands.

While it is not a written law in the book, this strategy gives the creator access to analytics via Audience Insights. Having this tool would allow brands to see the creator’s monthly viewers upon visiting their profile.

Brands can see the monthly viewers of a Pinterest business account.

Creators who are also business account owners can monitor their analytics and gauge necessary actions. Likewise, brands can make better decisions based on this data.

Pinterest Audience Insights is powered by the Taste Graph.

This tool reveals the interests of existing and potential costumes based on their behavior on the platform. By incorporating activities like searches and saves, Pinterest Insights reflect the active consideration mindset of the Pinners.

Audience Selection tabs show data for the last 30 days.

By using this tool, creators can view their individual audience’s data as well as Pinterest’s total audience. It is also possible to view a comparison of the two by clicking the tabs at the top of the page.

People need to meet a certain criteria to be defined as an account’s total audience.

This includes people who have viewed or engaged with all the Pinner’s saved Pins. The said Pins can be organic, paid, or both, as well as Pins that have been saved from the Pinner’s claimed website.

Pinners can see the top categories and consumer interest for their Audience Selection.

Then, they can compare their audience’s affinity with those of the total audience of the platform. Moreover, they can sort the said tables either by affinity or audience percentage. The Pinners can then target any of these interests when creating an ad campaign.

Affinity refers to the strength of the audience’s interest in a particular category.

A specific audience’s affinity is then compared to the average Pinner on the platform. Meanwhile, a ‘high affinity’ shows that this group of the audience has a strong likelihood of engaging with interest-related content.

Pinterest can go beyond business.

The image-sharing platform is like other social media sites in a way that it allows connections among friends and influencers. Still, Pinterest as a visual search engine full of ideas, mainly acting as a platform for inspiration.

It can serve as a source of ‘Pinspiration’ for people planning their holidays, vacations, and weddings. Hence, people tend to be more receptive to brand content as they find it helpful.

Shop the Look Pins allow businesses to add product tags to their content.

Hence, it is now possible for Pinners to “shop the look” by simply tapping on the Pin’s white dots. As of late 2019, the Shop the Look pin ads were still being incorporated to old pins throughout the app.

Pinterest determines purchases for 84% of weekly active users.

The company also revealed that 55% of Pinners are on it to specifically look for products. Moreover, 83% of weekly users acted on a purchase based on the content they came across from brands on Pinterest.