Have you ever wondered who exactly uses social media websites?  Well, if you haven’t and you think you already know the answer, you may be surprised by some recent findings.  When you think about social media and how it is everywhere in our daily lives, you can automatically assume that just about every active internet user has an account with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Pinterest and this is absolutely correct. 72% of all internet users have active social media accounts and use the networks on a daily basis. Now what gender is specifically using each of these networks? Is it an equal amount of both male and females? Not exactly.  In many cases the gender balance is pretty even but when looking at networks such as Pinterest there is a surprisingly huge dominance of female users.

So why does Pinterest have a higher ratio of female users?  Well If you think about the logistics of Pinterest and what it offers, it is basically an online virtual scrapbook - people can go on, find what interests them and pin items that will save to their own personalized board.  So if Pinterest is basically an online scrapbooking tool, and females love to scrapbook, then its no wonder that the social network attracts more females than males. 

Not only does the scrapbook look at feel of Pinterest attract a higher ratio of females, but it has also been shown to boost commerce for several retail companies.  A study conducted by RJMetrics reveals that females account for 92% of all Pinterest pins that can predominately be categorized under food & drink, DIY & crafts, home decor, hair & beauty, fashion, weddings & travel. With females being the primary spenders in the retail industry as well as also being the dominate pinners in the Pinterest verse, retailers are now seeing a spike in sales as their products are being repined and discovered like never before.  The lucky companies who are reaping the most benefits of this Pinterest craze are Etsy, Urban Outfitters, Williams Sonoma, and West Elm, all being part of the most popular pinned categories.