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I am genuinely curious, how does the year-over-year growth of 60% come together with the pretty consistent "death curve" according to Google Trends [0]. Could t

I am genuinely curious, how does the year-over-year growth of 60% come together with the pretty consistent "death curve" according to Google Trends [0]. Could they have deliberately lowered the revenue in 2017 through some clever accounting in order to come up with this number? As they have been around since ~2012, are there any prior financial metrics publicly available? [0] https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=US&q=pinterest https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=US&q=p...

throwawaysea 8y ago
Thanks for linking the Trend data. I was trying to figure out a way to express this myself. Colloquially, I feel like Pinterest used to be mentioned in conversations 5+ years ago with some frequency. For example, I would have someone mention some recipe they saw there or see links to Pinterest shared on other social networks. But in the past few years, I don't know if anyone in my circles has actually mentioned it at all. This Trend data seems to reflect what I felt through my anecdotal experience. That said, this is US data if I am not mistaken, and Pinterest seems to have a lot of activity happening internationally. Other comments state they have more MAU outside the US than within.
- conductr 8y ago
  If it’s US data, then your experience is my experience and it makes total sense. The trends represents search of “Pinterest” which was word of mouth driven. This was a very word of mouth driven app. Ladies in my life educated their friends, then their mothers, then their aunts, etc. They explained what it was and what “boards” are. But, it’s reached a saturation point now where everyone knows what it is. The conversation turned to wife-> her mom “did you see my nursery board? I pinned some inspo” and no explanation is needed she already had the app installed and didn’t need to go google “Pinterest”. Also, the women in my life love it for inspiration that definitely drives purchasing behavior. I can’t speak to whether Pinterest is monetizing that opportunity to its fullest but I certainly feel like it’s established itself as a place to research a future purchase which we all know is a valuable position to be in. I use my wife’s account occasionally to look up ideas for a home renovation or landscaping ideas. It helps. But I feel they’ve made some poor UX choices bordering on dark patterns. And with that, they are probably their own biggest risk. Eventually they will do something to totally alienate and piss off their user base.
  - goldenchrome 8y ago
    What about this then? https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=US&q=pinterest,instagram,snapchat https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=US&q=p... It maps closely to Instagram's steady rise, and Snapchat's slow demise.
    - adamiscool8 8y ago
      People search for Instagram profiles and content that get's reported as news i.e. "did you see X on Y's Instagram". Same for Snapchat, which requires searching for username discovery. Pinterest doesn't have either of those traffic catalysts.
      - dmitriy_ko 8y ago
        It's at least as useful to search Pinterest for specific terms. E.g. "wedding Pinterest" or "kitchen Pinterest". And if you look at "TERM Pinterest" trends you see same decline as well: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=US&q=wedding%20Pinterest https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=US&q=w...
madrasman 8y ago
Could be a couple of things: 1) Growing native app usage 2) More users starting on pinterest.com rather than google
tuckermi 8y ago
The story looks different (albeit short of YoY +60%) if you look at Trends for Image Search: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all_2008&geo=US&gprop=images&q=pinterest https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all_2008&geo=U...
- Theodores 8y ago
  Well spotted. The main search is definitely the mySpace trajectory: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=US&q=pinterest,myspace https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=US&q=p... ...but you have found the more accurate guess-data. Pinterest have presumably done well with Google's carousel that shows image search results at the top of the list. I am not sure the HN crowd is target demographic. Who here is looking for a new outfit to buy and wear? Who is wanting inspiration for some 'infinity band' tattoo? People here just end up on Pinterest wanting images for projects, no intention of pinning boards together. Why does this happen? Pinterest have built a body of content that is essentially evergreen and well documented as far as images go. Nobody is interested in last week's news but images don't have this problem. Hence they get the image search results traffic. Beyond that they do have their regular crowd looking for inspiration on clothes, home trinkets and what not. The search result blessings keep them relevant even if nobody outside the target demographic is actively using it.
  - aiisjustanif 8y ago
    Don't forget the massive planning scene. Wedding, engagement, baby shower, quinceañera, bar mitzvah, proposals. You name it. If you have a fiance, more than likely she a Pinterest board or is following multiple for ideas.
    - bradstewart 8y ago
      This. And home design. Our architect and wedding-related vendors (florists, chair rentals, etc) effectively required us to use Pinterest.
hayksaakian 8y ago
If you look international you can see the momentum https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=pinterest https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=pinteres... It's not hot and new any more in the USA but it seems to be spreading world wide
jkuria 8y ago
I don't know how this squares with the the significant rise in traffic to their site: https://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/pinterest.com https://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/pinterest.com Maybe as someone else mentioned, much of this is international growth? (india, Brazil?) If it is, then the traffic is a lot less valuable.
owens99 8y ago
Because you are clearly wrong. Forgive me for being blunt, I just think it’s a bit obvious: they have grown through means other than someone going to google.com and typing “Pinterest.” I can think of a dozen reasons why that would be the case. Google Trends does not match 1:1 popularity, usage, or growth of all products. Personally, I’m only a casual Pinterest user and have no stake in this, but the service has gotten a lot better over the last couple years.
- aiisjustanif 8y ago
  Fun fact: It's a great place for black people when it comes to hair styles and hair care, surprisingly one of the best places. Google search can't even compare.
  - xeeeeeeeeeeenu 8y ago
    I'm not surprised that Google search can't compare considering the fact how hard Pinterest is working on making it useless.
    - azeotropic 8y ago
      Google is doing a reasonably good job of making their search useless on their own. I rarely have to switch from DDG to find anything anymore, and when I do I'm frequently disappointed.
swampthinker 8y ago
Facebook has the same trend. https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=US&q=facebook https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=US&q=f...
- babakd 8y ago
  Instagram doesn’t https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?geo=US&q=Instagram https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?geo=US&q=Instagram
- dmitriy_ko 8y ago
  Not nearly as pronounced as Pinterest's though.

throwawaysea 8y ago

Thanks for linking the Trend data. I was trying to figure out a way to express this myself. Colloquially, I feel like Pinterest used to be mentioned in conversations 5+ years ago with some frequency. For example, I would have someone mention some recipe they saw there or see links to Pinterest shared on other social networks. But in the past few years, I don't know if anyone in my circles has actually mentioned it at all. This Trend data seems to reflect what I felt through my anecdotal experience. That said, this is US data if I am not mistaken, and Pinterest seems to have a lot of activity happening internationally. Other comments state they have more MAU outside the US than within.

conductr 8y ago
If it’s US data, then your experience is my experience and it makes total sense. The trends represents search of “Pinterest” which was word of mouth driven. This was a very word of mouth driven app. Ladies in my life educated their friends, then their mothers, then their aunts, etc. They explained what it was and what “boards” are. But, it’s reached a saturation point now where everyone knows what it is. The conversation turned to wife-> her mom “did you see my nursery board? I pinned some inspo” and no explanation is needed she already had the app installed and didn’t need to go google “Pinterest”. Also, the women in my life love it for inspiration that definitely drives purchasing behavior. I can’t speak to whether Pinterest is monetizing that opportunity to its fullest but I certainly feel like it’s established itself as a place to research a future purchase which we all know is a valuable position to be in. I use my wife’s account occasionally to look up ideas for a home renovation or landscaping ideas. It helps. But I feel they’ve made some poor UX choices bordering on dark patterns. And with that, they are probably their own biggest risk. Eventually they will do something to totally alienate and piss off their user base.
- goldenchrome 8y ago
  What about this then? https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=US&q=pinterest,instagram,snapchat https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=US&q=p... It maps closely to Instagram's steady rise, and Snapchat's slow demise.
  - adamiscool8 8y ago
    People search for Instagram profiles and content that get's reported as news i.e. "did you see X on Y's Instagram". Same for Snapchat, which requires searching for username discovery. Pinterest doesn't have either of those traffic catalysts.
    - dmitriy_ko 8y ago
      It's at least as useful to search Pinterest for specific terms. E.g. "wedding Pinterest" or "kitchen Pinterest". And if you look at "TERM Pinterest" trends you see same decline as well: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=US&q=wedding%20Pinterest https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=US&q=w...

madrasman 8y ago

Could be a couple of things: 1) Growing native app usage 2) More users starting on pinterest.com rather than google

tuckermi 8y ago

The story looks different (albeit short of YoY +60%) if you look at Trends for Image Search: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all_2008&geo=US&gprop=images&q=pinterest https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all_2008&geo=U...

Theodores 8y ago
Well spotted. The main search is definitely the mySpace trajectory: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=US&q=pinterest,myspace https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=US&q=p... ...but you have found the more accurate guess-data. Pinterest have presumably done well with Google's carousel that shows image search results at the top of the list. I am not sure the HN crowd is target demographic. Who here is looking for a new outfit to buy and wear? Who is wanting inspiration for some 'infinity band' tattoo? People here just end up on Pinterest wanting images for projects, no intention of pinning boards together. Why does this happen? Pinterest have built a body of content that is essentially evergreen and well documented as far as images go. Nobody is interested in last week's news but images don't have this problem. Hence they get the image search results traffic. Beyond that they do have their regular crowd looking for inspiration on clothes, home trinkets and what not. The search result blessings keep them relevant even if nobody outside the target demographic is actively using it.
- aiisjustanif 8y ago
  Don't forget the massive planning scene. Wedding, engagement, baby shower, quinceañera, bar mitzvah, proposals. You name it. If you have a fiance, more than likely she a Pinterest board or is following multiple for ideas.
  - bradstewart 8y ago
    This. And home design. Our architect and wedding-related vendors (florists, chair rentals, etc) effectively required us to use Pinterest.

hayksaakian 8y ago

If you look international you can see the momentum https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=pinterest https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=pinteres... It's not hot and new any more in the USA but it seems to be spreading world wide

jkuria 8y ago

I don't know how this squares with the the significant rise in traffic to their site: https://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/pinterest.com https://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/pinterest.com Maybe as someone else mentioned, much of this is international growth? (india, Brazil?) If it is, then the traffic is a lot less valuable.

owens99 8y ago

Because you are clearly wrong. Forgive me for being blunt, I just think it’s a bit obvious: they have grown through means other than someone going to google.com and typing “Pinterest.” I can think of a dozen reasons why that would be the case. Google Trends does not match 1:1 popularity, usage, or growth of all products. Personally, I’m only a casual Pinterest user and have no stake in this, but the service has gotten a lot better over the last couple years.

aiisjustanif 8y ago
Fun fact: It's a great place for black people when it comes to hair styles and hair care, surprisingly one of the best places. Google search can't even compare.
- xeeeeeeeeeeenu 8y ago
  I'm not surprised that Google search can't compare considering the fact how hard Pinterest is working on making it useless.
  - azeotropic 8y ago
    Google is doing a reasonably good job of making their search useless on their own. I rarely have to switch from DDG to find anything anymore, and when I do I'm frequently disappointed.

swampthinker 8y ago

Facebook has the same trend. https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=US&q=facebook https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=US&q=f...

babakd 8y ago
Instagram doesn’t https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?geo=US&q=Instagram https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?geo=US&q=Instagram
dmitriy_ko 8y ago
Not nearly as pronounced as Pinterest's though.