Pinterest has become an enormously popular social web site, with millions of people sharing five million articles every day. The difficulty for Pinterest – or what the company sees as its big opportunity – is that over 70 percent of the current audience is female, and the June comScore data shows that Pinterest is the most gender-imbalanced among the major social platforms.

The company knows that its current state is very appealing to women, and that’s been a strong selling point for the site as it sells ads. However, this could be hampering future growth, with men reluctant to venture in if the site is replete with pins that are strongly female-oriented. Becoming a social platform at significant scale really requires a broad appeal across all genders.

“If you pull up Pinterest and go into any content section, you will see purses, dresses and women’s shoes because women are the user base,” DigitasLBi’s vp of social and content strategy, Jill Sherman, said in a previous interview. “When 70 percent of the users are female, then 70 percent of the content is going to be female-oriented.”

So Pinterest is working on the basics of the Pinterest site, trying to make the initial sign-up process more inviting to new male users, according to Joanne Bradford, Pinteret’s head of partnerships. It’s a challenge, but Pinterest is intent on showing male users more gender-appropriate items when they sign on.

The company is also working on other initiatives that may be more appealing to males, signaling that intent by hiring a partner manager of media in New Your or Los Angeles. The job description says the company wants someone to “develop strong media, entertainment and publisher relationships” and to “work closely to help them get the most out of Pinterest and meet their business goals.” Pinterest is encouraging people to use the site as a way to flag articles for later reading, something that should appeal equally to all genders.

Will these efforts improve Pinterest’s appeal to males? What do you think?

Source: Digiday