You’ve probably heard it a million times already, so I’ll just say it up front: Pinterest is Reddit for women. But if your company caters to men, should you ignore this up-and-coming social network?

Every study of the gender divide in social media indicates that the Pinterest phenomenon is driven almost entirely by women. According to Mashable, a whopping 82 percent of Pinterest users are women, compared to Facebook’s slightly more even 58-42 percent female-male split.

Surfing the “Everything” portion of Pinterest is like looking at a visual representation of the American female ID. But, if you’re skipping Pinterest because of some fear of getting too deeply in touch with your feminine side, you’re missing out. I challenge you to look beyond the surface of recipes, french braid techniques and the latest manicure trends to see that there is actually a ton of relevant content that you and/or your company can offer that’ll appeal to everyone, regardless of gender.

Joining the ranks of Pinterest early on may also give you an edge in the future. According to a recent article in Business News Daily, “A new study found that just 7 percent of businesses currently use Pinterest and only 10 percent of businesses were looking to join the social network.” Why? According to the article, “Pinterest has attracted a huge following quickly, but companies may be waiting to see if its popularity will last and what the potential business uses are in order to determine if a presence there makes sense.”

I started using Pinterest as a visual bookmarking tool a few months back when one of my favorite sites posted an incredible human skull made from cast-off electronics. I knew just linking to the post wasn’t enough – it was the picture that drove my interest. According to an article on NPR, Pinterest’s photo-centric infrastructure will become important for all businesses in the future:

“Even those who’ve written off the site as overly feminine may soon find a Pinterest-like interface among their favorite sites, Soraya Darabi (a New York-based digital brand strategist) says. Pinterest’s “ability to effectively scale and communicate a lot of content at once, and organize that content very, very efficiently,” means “it’s going to set the mode for how media companies structure their websites going forward.”

The NPR article also states that while Pinterest may primarily resonate with the female population for now, it doesn’t have to. “She (Soraya Darabi) predicts Pinterest will eventually “want to have a broader landscape of folks using the platform … Should Pinterest really want to lasso in an older demo, a male audience, they may want to feature [uses] on their home page that are geared to those groups in particular.”

As Pinterest grows, there have been pop-up copycats targeting the guys like Dudepins (currently in BETA) and Gentlemint.

Many of the men I found on the site are designers of one sort or another. They’re comfortable thinking visually and use the site as a source of inspiration. I found plenty of examples of great costume ideas, design inspiration from the past, and fun home improvements. You’ll even find many of the same funny pictures and memes that make Reddit popular.

But isn’t this all really about offering content that connects with people regardless of gender? Your boards are what you make them. If you and/or your company want to have pin-appeal, check out the tips we shared in our popular, Like it, Pin it, Sell It – Why Pinterest Matters for Your Business post and you’ll be well on your way to providing engaging content that appeals to everyone.

Guys, we want to hear from you! Are you using Pinterest? Give us a shout in the comments and let us know.

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