A post on NPR’s All Tech Considered blog yesterday posed the question, “So Pinterest is a Woman’s World. Does that matter?”

Earlier this week, a columnist on Washingtonpost.com called Pinterest “digital crack for women” and last month a post on Gizmodo dubbed it “Tumblr for Ladiez.”

Meanwhile, I’ve had 10 men follow me in the last few weeks and I’m following just as many.

Unless you’ve been unplugged on a beach somewhere on an extended vacation (in which case, by the way, I’m jealous) you have heard of Pinterest, and probably within the last six months. While Pinterest has been around since 2009, its membership has skyrocketed from about a million unique monthly visitors in July to more than 11 million in January, according to comScore data via TechCrunch.

Pinterest is essentially a digital bulletin board where you can curate and organize images and things you find on the web. Being born in the age of Facebook and Twitter, it is social and sharable. Users can browse “pins” shared by other people and can “like” or repin to their own boards.

Ok, back to this Pinterest is for girls business.

I posed the question to some of the guys I know on Pinterest: What are the top reasons Pinterest is not just for women?

While worded in various ways, the top reasons really boiled down to one, which was so simple it made me feel silly for asking the question:

GUYS LIKE PICTURES TOO.

Right?

A few other comments on why men are on Pinterest:
– Somebody’s got to post images other than shoes, dresses, and hair
– Because some guys didn’t know that it was mostly women on Pinterest (but it doesn’t surprise them)
– It’s what you make of it. There are plenty of pics of cars, sports, etc.
– Because girls are on there (mentioned more than once)

Many of the men I know on Pinterest are in a creative field (artists, architects, graphic designers and experts in social media and marketing). Pinterest is a natural extension of the visual tools they use. But they are using it for fun and personal interests as well and as an expression of themselves. Common Pin Board topics include:
– Music
– Design
– Food
– Places I’d like to go
– Art/architecture
– Things I want

My guess is the demographic split on Pinterest may not be quite as girl heavy as hyped or at least is trending in a more balanced direction. What do you think?

I’ll leave you with some of my favorite boards from men I know on Pinterest: