Social media platforms were introduced to help users communicate seamlessly. They brought people together on the same platform and allowed them to share text, pictures, videos, and audio files readily.
It was a great initiative and platforms like Facebook and Twitter flourished rapidly. Businesses across the globe soon realized the potential of social media. They got a new medium to promote their products and drive more traffic.
Today, social media sites generate immense business for both small and large brands. Some platforms seem more suitable for this job than others.
Pinterest has emerged as the best place to attract users looking for specific solutions. It got many competitors, but it remains one of the leading social networking and data exploring platforms!
Pinterest Overview
Pinterest is one of the most widely used social networking sites with image sharing feature. It allows users to save hundreds of images and discover new information through images.
This platform also supports video sharing and GIFs on a small scale, but it mainly focuses on images. Ben Silbermann, Evan Sharp, and Paul Sciarra started working on the Pinterest app in 2009. The development work was completed in 2010 and then they launched it.
This platform gained 10,000 users within the first 9 months. Silbermann personally communicated with the first 5,000 users and offered help if they needed it.
Pinterest currently entertains over 430 million users across the globe. It is among the top 10 most widely used social networking sites.
This platform introduces several new features to attract more active users and entertain their needs.
What Features Make Pinterest Different from Other Social Media Sites?
Pinterest operates more like a visual discovery engine than a social media site. People use this platform to find new ideas and inspirations. Users share new DIY tricks and other information in the form of Pins.
Pinterest categorizes all Pins on Boards. Users can use those categories to find useful information quickly. It is different from other social media sites because:
- It can boost web traffic
This platform allows users to add links to their posts. Most DIYers add links to their Pins to drive more traffic to their blogs. It helps them gain new visitors without spending a huge amount on marketing.
- Faster conversions
Pinterest eliminates several steps of the customer’s journey. It provides high-quality traffic! A website with catchy content and high-quality products can easily convert visitors into loyal customers
- Visual search
Unlike a regular web browser, Pinterest acts as a visual search engine. Users check various pictures to find useful content. It helps them save time and get the required information faster.
Pinterest is the best platform to assess what the targeted users demand. Brands use this platform to understand their audience to prepare the best marketing strategies.
How Does Pinterest Generate Revenue?
Pinterest earns from targeted ads. Those ads are called “Promoted Pins” on this platform and they are similar to other social media ads.
It also provides “Click-to-Buy shopping ads” to help brands quickly convert interested users.
This company has made $2.58 billion in FY 2021 with a 52% increase in comparison to 2020s $1.69 billion revenue.
Its income is growing and it may soon surpass some top-grossing social media platforms in the world.
Pinterest Competitors and Alternatives
Pinterest is competing with the following companies:
1. Instagram
Headquarters: 181 Fremont St, San Francisco, California, USA
Founder(s): Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger
Year Founded: 2010
Instagram is a media-sharing platform that connects users and offers many features of social networking sites. It is a media-sharing site like Pinterest, but it has a lot more active users.
Over 500 million people use this social networking app daily. They upload pictures, short videos, and other content to stay connected with others.
Facebook acquired this company in 2012 and improved its smartphone app to draw more users. Facebook was the leading social networking site in the world when it acquired Instagram.
Today, Instagram became the world’s most popular social networking platform. It allows companies, brands, celebs, and influencers to share promotional content and generate more business for their clients.
It made approximately $26.8 billion in 2020 and $47.6 billion in 2021. Instagram’s annual revenue is much larger than what Pinterest gains. Therefore, it’s the biggest competitor to the media sharing site!
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2. We Heart It
Headquarters: San Francisco, California, USA
Founder(s): Fabio Giolito
Year Founded: 2008
We Heart It is another image-based social media site. It mainly targets young users who like to share their experiences via pictures they click. This social media site claims to be the best place to organize your digital life and find inspiration.
It allows users to share images to draw the attention of followers. Users can tap on the “Heart” button to admire the picture clicked and posted by other users.
They can access this platform via a web browser or download the official app to run it smoothly on the smartphone. Fabio Giolito founded We Heart It as his side project. He wanted to heart photos and he was using this site as his personal tool.
It grew organically and gained many active users. Over 25 million users were active on We Heart It by 2013 and 70% of them were young girls.
Today, this image-sharing social media platform has over 45 million active users. Most of the active users are young and creative.
They share some remarkable ideas to entertain others and therefore this platform seems pretty similar to Pinterest.
3. Twitter
Headquarters: San Francisco, California, USA
Founder(s): Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams
Year Founded: 2006
Twitter was founded by Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams in 2006. It emerged as a unique social networking platform.
Today, it’s the most popular website for sparking global movements, sharing views, criticizing poor policies, and other activities.
Pinterest and Twitter are pretty different because Twitter mainly promotes text-based content. However, both platforms are perfect for discovering new content, ideas, and reaching millions of active users.
This company’s annual revenue has increased by 36.63% when it grossed $5.077 billion in 2021. Elon Musk may soon acquire this firm and drive more traffic to make it more profitable!
4. Flipboard
Headquarters: Palo Alto, California
Founder(S): Mike McCue and Evan Doll
Year Founded: 2010
It is a content-sharing site that aggregates content from news feeds, social networking sites, photo-sharing apps, sites, and other web portals.
It presents the aggregated content in the form of a magazine. Users can flip those magazine pages to discover new images, articles, videos, and blogs.
This platform allows users to share their stories and create virtual magazines to share with other users. It connects users interested in the same kind of content.
Besides, it has become a famous web portal for promoting content-based sites and blogs. Numerous content creators, bloggers, and vloggers have switched to Flipboard due to its exciting features.
This platform got 145 million monthly active users and it has made around $71 million in 2021.
5. Dribbble
Headquarters: N/A
Founder(S): Dan Cederholm and Rich Thornett
Year founded: 2009
Dribbble is an excellent platform for graphics designers, digital developers, and artists who want to promote their work. It seems pretty identical to Pinterest in terms of design.
However, this platform mainly attracts users looking for unique designs and digitally created artworks.
It operates as a self-promotion social media site. Creative people gather on this platform and share a glimpse of their work to target specific users.
It’s by far the largest social media site for designers, who want to share their creative ideas. Many jobs and recruiting sites also use this platform to find talented individuals.
Dribble has no headquarters and its employees work remotely to maintain this distributed platform. Dan Cederholm and Rich Thornett created Dribbble as an invite-only site in 2009.
Today, it became a popular social networking platform for content creators. It has over 3.5 million registered users and 6 million monthly active users!
6. Juxtapost
Headquarters: Irvin, California, United States
Founder(S): Monir Boktor
Year founded: 2011
Juxtapost is one of the fastest-growing alternatives to Pinterest. This platform helps users remember all the interesting things they see on the internet.
People discover numerous options when browsing the web for certain products or services. It can be daunting to keep the track of items they find useful.
Bookmarking different products on the web browser is a solution, but it’s tough to manage. Therefore, Juxtapost steps in as a better alternative.
It provides user-friendly tools to bookmark pictures and categorize them in postboards. It makes bookmarked items more manageable and easy to access.
7. Mix.com
Headquarters: San Francisco Bay Area, West Coast, United States
Founder(S): Garrett Camp
Year founded: 2002
Mix was founded in 2002 and it has been operating as a popular social media site since then. It didn’t become as popular as top social networking sites became, but it still has a decent user base.
Mix provides real-time news, and posts made by people connected to your profile, and it also assesses social graphs and semantics to feed data.
This platform does not offer that traditional newsfeed because all other platforms are doing that.
Mix delivers several recommended pages according to things that interest you. It operates as your personal assistant. It finds things on the web that you may like to know while using the platform.
This company has recently acquired StumbleUpon, which was a discovery and promotional engine.
Now, Mix has a new team of professionals working together to expand this platform and make it a better alternative to Pinterest and other similar companies.
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8. Designspiration
Headquarters: Greater Los Angeles Area, California, United States
Founder(S): Shelby White
Year founded: 2010
Designspiration is pretty similar to Dribbble, but its interface seems more identical to Pinterest. It is a haven for designers, who want to share their creative ideas with the world.
Whenever you come across some exciting designs and attractive posts, you can use the “Save Button” to save that post.
This platform welcomes artists from various feeds. You will find graphics designers, painting enthusiasts, graffiti creators, handwriting experts, architects, and more.
Many professional photographers are using this platform to promote and sell their work. It provides various tabs to explore various things users have posted on this platform.
Designspiration isn’t among the top grossing social networking platforms, but it got millions of designers. That’s why it is a major Pinterest alternative.
9. Foodgawker
Headquarters: San Francisco Bay Area, California, United States
Founder(S): Chuck Lai
Year founded: 2008
Foodgawker is a network of websites where users share new recipes and methods to improve popular cuisines. It is a perfect platform to discover new recipes and improve your culinary experience.
Many professionals, aspiring chefs, foodies, and common users use this platform to find new food ideas. This platform features photographs published by many food bloggers across the globe.
Users can easily pick the right recipe by checking its pictures and getting complete information shared by other users.
This platform has been around since 2008, but it never became as successful as Pinterest is. Therefore, it is not a huge threat to Pinterest’s market share. You will certainly try it if you are interested in cooking.
10. Inspiration Grid
Headquarters: N/A
Founder(S): N/A
Year founded: 2011
It is an online magazine used by creative people around the world. It promotes illustrations, designs, photography, fashion, architecture, and many other things.
Artists from many countries have switched to this platform to find other users with the same interests. The art collection featured in this magazine is simply remarkable.
High-resolution pictures, exceptional editing work, and mesmerizing designs are always there at the top.
It is a visual treat for users, who are tired of seeing mixed posts on Pinterest. Inspiration Grid is not as famous as Pinterest is, but it is slowly expanding. This company can soon emerge as the best place to connect with creative users.
Those, who consistently search for visual inspirations, should join this platform. It is not an ideal pick for DIYers because there are no posts to help newbies.
11. The Fancy
Headquarters: New York, USA
Founder(S): Joseph Einhorn
Year founded: 2009
People often spot many fancy items on Pinterest and other social networking sites. They do not know where to find those items and what those items are called. That’s where The Fancy comes into the picture.
It provides all the cool things you spot on the internet. Fancy allows users to create profiles and list fancy items they find at local stores. This platform also provides many cool items that are rare to find at local stores.
This platform looks pretty attractive due to its amazing design. Besides, it operates as an e-commerce platform where users can buy things they spot on the web.
Therefore, many Pinterest users have switched to this platform to acquire what’s endorsed on Pinterest and other social networking sites.
12. Gentlemint
Headquarters: Lawrence, Kansas, United States
Founder(S): Brian McKinney and Glen Stansberry
Year founded: 2011
Gentlemint is a renowned social networking platform. Every registered user can use it to share photos, videos, and links to their blogs and website.
This platform mainly focuses on “Manly” content. Some even call it Pinterest for Men because most posts are related to men and their needs.
This platform claims to deliver the manliest content. It got a decent user base and it is growing at a gradual pace.
13. Hometalk
Headquarters: New York, United States
Founder: Yaron Ben Shaul
Year founded: 2011
Hometalk is a community of DIY enthusiasts, where people share DIY home improvement ideas. It has over 17 million registered users and more than 23 million people use this site monthly.
This platform has listed more than 140,000 home improvement tutorials, which are available for all users.
When users seek home improvement ideas featured in a categorized manner, Hometalk meets their needs. Therefore, it is attracting many DIY enthusiasts who were previously using Pinterest.
14. Behance
Headquarters: New York, United States
Founder: Matias Corea and Scott Belsky
Year founded: 2005
It is another designer-centric web portal that allows designers to endorse their work. It claims to be the world’s largest platform to showcase and discover creative works.
Being a designer, you would love to join this platform and use its resources to promote your work.
Users need to create their work profile and describe their profession to start posting their work. It provides inspiration, design ideas, and a glimpse of amazing artworks created by other designers.
15. Depositphotos
Headquarters: New York, United States
Founder: Dmitry Sergeev
Year founded: 2008
Entertaining over 100,000 subscribers, Depositphotos is a content-sharing platform. Users join this platform to find royalty-free content.
This website has over 200 million files that include vector images, stock photos, editorial files, videos, and more.
It has become web users’ favorite place to find royalty-free pictures for their website. It was one of the fastest-growing photobanks in 2012. Today, it is the world’s best platform to find free photos on any subject you need.
This platform is expanding and acquiring other web portals with creative ideas. It is not a social networking site, but it attracts many Pinterest users who need free images for their posts.
