Pinterest has a predominantly female presence, but some male BYU students use the site to share their interests as well.
Despite the fact that Pinterest was co-founded by two men, Ben Silbermann and and Evan Sharp, the website seems to maintain a “girls-only” stigma. As of October 2013, Pinterest, valued at $3.8 billion, has over 70 million Pinterest worldwide. Of that number, 80 percent are women.
“Girls go on it to do wedding stuff and dresses,” said Troy Murphy, an advertising major. “It would be embarrassing to get caught on there and then everyone thinks that you’re obsessed with Pinterest. It’s just not our thing.”
According to “The Social Habit,” by Edison Research, one major factor differentiates men and women Pinterest users. Women use Pinterest as a wish list, while men see it more as a shopping cart. Men are on the site to find real-time solutions and tend to use the site more infrequently and for specific purposes.
Some of the most popular categories that attract men to Pinterest include cars and motorcycles, geek, humor, men’s fashion, outdoors, sports, technology and tattoos.
“I use Pinterest for sports only,” said Cory Sevarino, from Maryland. “I follow the Ravens, BYU and other teams that have links to stats and bios.”
Some male students have been introduced to Pinterest because of work and organizations that have an account. Bobby Moulder, a public relations major, works at KBYU. He maintains the station’s Pinterest page and monitors its traffic.
“There are links back to our homepage and all the projects we are working on,” he said. “I don’t use it for anything personal.”
“Secret Boards” or links that remain hidden to the Pinterest public and are only seen by the account creator have encouraged men to use Pinterest because of the option for anonymity.
“My mom has me pin stuff for her, and I don’t want people to think that’s me, so I have a secret board for her,” Murphy said.
Murphy said he also uses Pinterest for personal portfolio and design ideas.
