Those multitudes of pinned images — crafts, wedding gowns, fingernails and appetizers — are pushing Pinterest into the social media stratosphere.
The online image board company has surpassed Snapchat in users to become the third-largest U.S. social-media platform, behind only Facebook and its sister site Instagram, Emarketer said in a report.
Pinterest’s position appears solid, and secure for years to come, Emarketer added.
“While Snapchat has a young core audience that it caters to, Pinterest has a more universal appeal, and it’s made significant gains in a wide range of age groups,” eMarketer junior forecasting analyst Nazmul Islam said in the report.
Pinterest’s growth may finally reward long-term investors who have held on since the company sold shares to the public at $19 last year. The shares rose as much as 13% to $22.17; they had dropped about 2% last year due to a revenue miss in October.
Pinterest had 82.4 million users last year, while Snapchat had 80.2 million users. Pinterest’s users are more evenly represented across all age groups, while Snapchat’s are much more skewed in the younger age groups.
That makes sense, since Pinterest became popular as a platform for pursuits such as art and décor, gadgets, recipes and shopping, which appeal to more age groups. About three-quarters of all Snapchat users are under 34, according to Omnicore.
Also promising for Pinterest shareholders — data confirm users will make purchases on the site, MSN reported. Also, Pinterest is a force in online retail referrals — more so than Facebook, Snapchat and Twitter, according to the report.
- Snapchat has been caught up in the controversy over whether social media sites spread false information and fake news and whether they may unduly influence elections. CEO In November, Evan Spiegel said Snapchat fact-checks all political ads, stressing the company’s intention was to keep young people politically engaged while cutting off misleading advertising.
- Pinterest has sought to distance itself from the controversy through socially-conscious efforts such as fighting vaccine misinformation and introducing skin-tone sensitive search results. Last month the company said it would stop promoting wedding venues that had once been slave plantations to avoid glamorizing the past.
