Pinterest may be a social media juggernaut here in the US, but over in Europe, they don’t see what the fuss is all about.
A new report from Forrester reveals the social media habits of internet users from UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain, and Pinterest is pretty low on the popularity scale. Unsurprisingly, Facebook and YouTube were the top social media sites by a large margin with over 50% of adults visiting those sites at least once a month. Next in line was a surprising 22% for Google, followed by 6% for LinkedIn. Pinterest trails the bottom of the table with only 2% of users reporting visiting the site once a month. Compare that to 18% of users in the US and we can see a huge gap.
Forrester analyst Anjali Lai says there are several legal and logistical reasons why Pinterest hasn’t taken off in Europe. For one, the platform’s international versions are still being developed – it only recently came out with a French only version. And it’s also facing the headache of fighting trademarks in Europe, which means it might have to secure a different website domain name if it is going to operate there.
Putting aside the technical problems, the biggest obstacle might just be Europeans’ aversions to over-sharing and posting aspirational items in public.
Lai writes:
European personalities simply might not support a culture of perpetual pinning. Data from Forrester’s ConsumerVoices market research online community suggests that Pinterest doesn’t motivate European consumers to share — nor to care. UK-based respondents believe that highlighting examples of their artistic accomplishments or practical skills on such a site is akin to unnecessary bragging.
Ouch.
However, even though Europe is averse to pinning, European marketers would do well to keep a close eye on Twitter, as it may just be the best way for them to gain a foothold in the American consumer market.
