When the social network becomes a woman. And communicate only through images. AND' Pinterest, the emerging platform whose name comes from the fusion of words "pin code" (pin, used to stick posts on virtual plywood bulletin boards) e "interest", and which represents the latest evolution of the language of the web: from the infinite words of Facebook, to the 140 characters of Twitter, right up to communication through photos and images.
But the real revolution is precisely the impressive pink quota of this social pinboard (social bulletin board, as it is defined by many): 97% of users are in fact female, most of them between 25 and 34 years old, but also mothers and housewives. And mostly affluent, according to recent research from ComScore. Is it a new radical-chic model for women? For now it is not known, the only certainty is that Pinterest, as written by the Guardian, is at the moment “a man-free zone” (as described by the site's own guidelines: "People use bulletin boards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and share favorite recipes"), and its rise is not a flash in the pan.
So much so that among the few men who have understood it there is Mark Zuckerberg, creator of the network with almost a billion subscribers, who, intrigued by the novelty, has signed up too. But is it just curiosity, or is Pinterest growing so much that it even undermines the leadership of the greats? In January, users were close to 12 million, against 7,5 the previous month (with a leap forward of 4.000% in one year!), while there were 13 active visitors, still far from the 800 of Facebook and 181 of Twitter but higher, in terms of time spent on the platform (89 minutes a month on average), LinkedIn (17 minutes), Twitter itself ( 21), Myspace (8) and the anonymous Google Plus with just 2,5 minutes dedicated in January by the current 88 active users.
While Facebook's hegemony seems hard to counter, Google's social network is in sharp decline (especially in the UK) and could really be undermined by the rise of Pinterest. This was also underlined by David Cohen, executive vice president of Universal McCann, a company that deals with marketing: “Google+ doesn't have the same resonance that Facebook, Twitter and even Pinterest currently have.”
If we consider that to have access to Pinterest there is still a need for an email invitation following the request, one can imagine that the user curve could grow further when it will be operational for everyone, even on the move. So much so that there are already many attempts at imitation: in fact, it was born a few days ago Pingram.me, the site that combines the Pinterest interface with the Instagram photo application (another true contemporary obsession, also mainly feminine), created by the Italian Gennaro Varriale and which is already making its way around the world.
But to understand even before him the new female passion were, coincidentally, two men: their names are Ben Silbermann and Evan Sharp, they are respectively 29 and 28 years old, and are the co-founders of Pinterest.
“Words, words, words”, Mina already sang half a century ago. Too many words hurt, in the third millennium women prefer the concreteness and immediacy of an image or video. From words to deeds: today is March 8, men are warned.
