Building a positive place for 300 million people

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When Pinterest reached out to discuss their search for the company’s first Chief Marketing Officer, it took me a while to return the call. I wasn’t looking for a job change. I’d been steadily growing sceptical of tech. Even worse, I wasn’t actually using Pinterest myself.

Not the best starting point for a job interview.

It was about ten minutes into my first conversation with Pinterest co-founder Evan Sharp that I knew I would be crazy to dismiss this chance. He didn’t talk about metrics. He didn’t talk about money. He talked about meaning.

“Pinterest may be the last positive corner of the internet,” he said. “And that really matters, now more than ever.”

I created an account that afternoon. And now, here I am, working at Pinterest and living our company mission to bring everyone the inspiration to create a life they love.

About your self. Not your selfie.

Today, there are now over 300 million people around the world who use Pinterest every month to do exactly that.

We’ve got bikers looking for motivation (‘biker quotes inspiration’ searches are up +123%), business owners growing their businesses (‘entrepreneur inspiration motivation’ +47%, ‘branding inspiration’ +231%), and women planning to propose (‘women proposing to men’ ideas +334%). 

Or they’re just here to uplevel their style.

An inspired life

An inspired life is a beautiful thing. One of my favorite things to do is read interesting board names from Pinners around the world. Notes to My Daughter. Weird Places to Camp. Baño de mis suenos (“My dream bathroom”). Bark Mitzvah. Lighthouses and lobsters. Ramen recon. Around the world travel dreams. Boards are where people plan what comes next, and they’re the quickest way to understand not just how Pintererst works, but why it matters so much to people.

I've talked to a lot of Pinners since I joined Pinterest – including people creating and curating inspiring boards just like these – and they inevitably tell me the same thing: they come to Pinterest to be their truest selves. When there’s no social pressure to share posts or rack up likes, there’s more time to focus on your passions, your plans for the future, your… self.

More positive, more motivated, more inspired

So we asked a research firm to really dig into that particular state of mind among Pinners, which is hard to recreate in consumer tech. The results were pretty eye-opening:

Nine out of ten Pinners (that's almost everyone we talked to!) described Pinterest as filled with positivity. And 85% said Pinterest is where they go when they want to start a new project. Only 26% had the same to say about their social media channels.

People also thought that Pinterest was great for finding ideas: Nearly two-thirds (64%) of them described our platform as a place to find ideas, products or services that they can trust. That’s more than twice as many as those who said the same about social. 

We love hearing how good Pinterest makes people feel. And making sure it stays that way is a big part of our plans as Pinterest continues to grow. We recently announced our new compassionate search experience, but that's just the beginning. We've got whole teams dedicated to making sure the time people spend on Pinterest is positive, and truly helps them create a life they love.

I’m so proud to be a part of it.

And, of course, for inspiring 300 million people each month. 300 million and one, that is.

New Pinner Andréa Mallard, CMO of Pinterest, is currently saving ideas to Plant-based Meals

1Percent increases are calculated using normalized searches from April 2018 to April 2019.

2Talk Shoppe, US, Emotions, Attitudes, and Usage Study, October 2018

3Social media sites/apps included in the study: Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter and YouTube.