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Pinterest hit a milestone recently, with an official
announcement that it has reached 100 million users, far exceeding the estimates
of some analysts’ calculations earlier this year, such as in a report by
eMarketer that calculated Pinterest would hit 47 million users in the
U.S, by 2015, and 59 million U.S. users by 2019. But as the New York Times reported,
“Pinterest has faced scrutiny over whether the size of its user base and
business growth can justify its huge valuation.” Over the past five years, the
company has grown to a valuation of about $11 billion dollars.
According to Tribune’s report, co-founder Evan Sharp
expressed to AFP that most of the users are not just visiting Pinterest once a
month and “They’re actually discovering something so interesting that
they’re saving it or are clicking through to the website.”
“It’s 100 million active users, more than 70 per cent of whom
are actively engaged,”
This was quoted from a telephone interview they conducted.
The disclosure from Pinterest is the first time since its launch in March 2010
that it has discussed the number of users. Sharp said that the majority of
Pinterest users are women but noted the gender gap “is closing a little bit
every month.”
However, Pinterest’s numbers are lower than Instagram, which
claims some 300 million users. It is only in the past year or so that Pinterest
has made moves into monetizing its growth. Slowly it has offered itself to
advertisers, allowing big brands to buy promoted pins. And, while ads may seem
more intrusive on Instagram, interrupting photos of fuzzy cats and weekend
warrior selfies, Pinterest relies on its users to save items that they
theoretically want to buy. The question, as with most tech companies, startup small businesses and even web marketing or social media marketing companies of this
age, is how they will meet their valuation. But what the numbers do suggest is
that Pinterest is not going anywhere anytime soon.
