Pinterest for Dudes: It’s not about your gender!
With 12% of online adults saying they are on Pinterest which is widely dominated by women and nearly a fifth of online women (19%) using Pinterest* more than a few men have asked me “What’s Pinterest about and why would any of that ever appeal to me?”
I don’t think there should ever be a need for a gender specific piece on Pinterest recommendations for men or women. How can anyone generalize what either prefers? But just 2 days ago, surfing Pinterest, I saw a photo of a teardrop shaped hand soap dispenser with Legos suspended in the liquid. The description read “Love this for boys! Use Barbies for girls.” Arggggg! Okay, first of all, it’s just an ordinary countertop soap dispenser, how much is really going to fit in it? Barbie’s head? That’s definitely something my brothers would be into. The Barbies I played with were generally double amputees courtesy of Thing 1 and Thing 2 that shared the bedroom down the hall. And second, it seems we women have cultivated an entire social network that brings life to a topic that never fails to raise my hackles, the concept of “girls’ toys” versus “boys’ toys”.
My answer, “It doesn’t have to be this way.” Anything on Pinterest could appeal to a man, woman or child. In an equal and perfect world, pin whatever you want but I keep hearing the above question so here is my new answer for dude pin-curious, “It’s not about your gender!” It’s about what you like, or want to promote, or follow, learn about, or who you want to speak to regardless of which set of chromosomes you’re sporting.
Here’s a another one, “I made a new account and all those pictures of shoes, hairstyles and jewelry, well it was a real buzz killer so I never signed on ever again.” Okay, okay. If you are someone, including a male someone, who likes to cook, I love you already. Pinterest (and my heart) is the social network for you! It’s loaded with recipes why not share some? All the cool guys are doing it, in fact here is a manly tip on grilling the perfect steak. Like to travel? Take me with you and I’ll pin the photos! How about movies? You could go to Pinterest to learn about rival Twitter and still hang on to your man card.
So without any more commentary, here are 15 Pinterest recommendations for not-so-fond-of-shoes dudes :
- Cooking and recipes: Manly-men BBQ plus who doesn’t love a guy that cooks?
- Movies: It’s rumored that 70% of a guy’s brain is filled with movie quotes
- Photography and other artwork: Absolutely anything
- Cars: There seem to be a lot of vintage cars and cakes shaped like cars but not much else, so maybe not a great place to start. Why not go for a double-header and upload photos of cars?
- Electronics, gadgets: Okay maybe not so much, but be a maverick here and start a trend! There is a “geek” category waiting for you!
- Jewelry: Nope, no trickery here. Cuff links do qualify as jewelry. My dad, a Great Depression era kid was totally into gold jewelry
- General social networking information, tutorials (you’re reading one right now, aren’t you?), Pinterest can teach you about other social networks.
- Infographics: There is an infographic for everything! You could make a board for each genre of infographic.
- Inspirational and motivational quotes: Like Twitter, this is an easy category if you are trying to get more followers.
- Exercise and Fitness – Don’t want to see endless photos of yoga poses? (Or maybe you do? 😉 ) There are a ton of workout routines, exercise tips as well as nutrition information on Pinterest. In fact, fitness is one of the most popular categories.
- Books, books and more books: eBooks, Indy books, kids books, okay here, self-help, home improvement /remodeling books, business books, 50 Shades of Grey??
- Fashion!: Whaaaaat?? Did you know Pinterest added men’s fashion category in one of their revisions this year?
- For the Home: Boards titlted “For the Home” are pretty popular. You can find everything from rocking chairs to whole room makeovers as well as honey-do projects for the yard.
- Travel: This is easy!! Create a pinboard of places you’ve been to or those on your bucket list.
- Music: Bands, concerts, fests, another easy category.
There is really quite a lot of content for men on Pinterest, maybe more than you thought. So men, give this fun and easy social network a chance. Participate in group boards, share expertise, point someone to a great chicken diner recipe! Keep calm, and pin on!
* Source: Pew Internet Online Life in Pictures, September 13, 2012.
