{"208471":{"#nid":"208471","#data":{"type":"news","title":"What Drives Activity on Pinterest?","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EResearchers at Georgia Tech and the University of Minnesota have released a new study that uses statistical data to help understand the motivations behind Pinterest activity, the roles gender plays among users and the factors that distinguish Pinterest from other popular social networking sites.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELed by Assistant Professor Eric Gilbert of Georgia Tech\u2019s School of Interactive Computing, working in collaboration with Professor Loren Terveen from the University of Minnesota\u2019s College of Science and Engineering, the study reveals findings that could have implications for both academia and industry:\u003Cbr \/\u003E1.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;Female users have more re-pins, regardless of geographical location\u003Cbr \/\u003E2.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;Men typically have more followers on Pinterest than women\u003Cbr \/\u003E3.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;Four verbs set Pinterest apart from Twitter: \u201cuse,\u201d \u201clook,\u201d \u201cwant\u201d and \u201cneed\u201d \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u201cThose four verbs uniquely describe Pinterest and are particularly interesting,\u201d said Gilbert, who runs the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/comp.social.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EComp.Social Lab\u003C\/a\u003E at Georgia Tech. \u201cWords encapsulate the intent of people, revealing the motivations behind their actions. You can use the word \u2018this\u2019 after all of these verbs, reflecting the \u2018things\u2019 at the core of Pinterest. Many press articles have focused on Pinterest\u2019s commercial potential, and here we see verbs illustrating that consumption truly lies at the heart of the site.\u201d \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EPinterest, which reached 10 million users faster than any other social network, revolves around the metaphor of a pin board: users \u201cpin\u201d photos they find on the web and organize them into topical collections. Pinterest users can follow one another and also re-pin, like and comment on other pins. After examining more than 200,000 pins, Gilbert and his team were able to compile the first statistical overview of the site.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u201cWe wanted to take a closer look at Pinterest because of its differences compared to other social media, including its focus on pictures and products and the large proportion of women users,\u201d said Terveen, a co-author of the study. \u201cThese findings are an important early snapshot of Pinterest that help us begin to understand people\u2019s activity on this site.\u201d \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EUnderstanding the motivations behind activity on Pinterest is key, not only for researchers but also for business wishing to utilize the site for marketing purposes. A recent market survey showed that a higher proportion of Pinterest users click through to e-commerce sites\u2014and when they go there, they spend significantly more money than people who come from sites like Facebook or Twitter. \u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u201cThere are several social networking sites that marketers and advertisers can take advantage of these days,\u201d said Gilbert. \u201cAfter conducting this research, if I had to choose where to put my money and marketing, Pinterest would probably be my first choice.\u201d\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EIn addition to Gilbert and Terveen, the research team includes Ph.D. student Saeideh Bakhshi from Georgia Tech and Ph.D. student Shuo Chang from the University of Minnesota. \u003Cbr \/\u003ETheir findings are summarized in the paper \u201c\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\/~sbakhshi\/gilbert.chi13.pinterest.pdf\u0022\u003EI Need to Try This!: A Statistical Overview of Pinterest\u003C\/a\u003E,\u201d which will be presented next week at the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/chi2013.acm.org\/\u0022\u003EACM SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems\u003C\/a\u003E in Paris, France. To view research by other Georgia Tech researchers at SIGCHI, visit \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/chi.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ehttp:\/\/chi.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Researchers at Georgia Tech and University of Minnesota release first study on popular social network site."}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EResearchers at Georgia Tech and the University of Minnesota have released a new study that uses statistical data to help understand the motivations behind Pinterest activity, the roles gender plays among users and the factors that distinguish Pinterest from other popular social networking sites.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Researchers at Georgia Tech and University of Minnesota release first study on popular social network site."}],"uid":"27556","created_gmt":"2013-04-23 09:49:27","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:14:08","author":"Michaelanne Dye","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2013-04-23T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2013-04-23T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"1299","name":"GVU Center"}],"categories":[{"id":"42941","name":"Art Research"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"},{"id":"153","name":"Computer Science\/Information Technology and Security"},{"id":"143","name":"Digital Media and Entertainment"}],"keywords":[{"id":"64681","name":"Eric Gilbert; Pinterest; Saeideh Bakhshi; Twitter; Facebook; Statistical Overview; Social Media; Social Network; CHI; SIGCHI"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EMichaelanne Dye\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:mdye@cc.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Emdye@cc.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E404-783-7777\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["mdye@cc.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}