I used to think that Pinterest was a fad but that's because I had little understanding of its appeal and obviously I am not the target market but over the last

I used to think that Pinterest was a fad but that's because I had little understanding of its appeal and obviously I am not the target market but over the last few months for an article I've been writing about Pinterest being a silently growing dark horse in the social category I've come to realise it appeals to a lot of people. Amongst the fashion, make-up and hair niches Pinterest is pretty darn popular. Fashion stylists use it to create inspiration collections, make-up artists use it for helping create new looks and hairdressers especially love creating hair collections for inspiration as well. There is also another segment that Pinterest appeals to and it's massive: women. Pinterest is used by a lot of women to create wishlists and curate their own look collections. My girlfriend has an avid interest in vintage clothing & decor and the TV show Mad Men and she uses Pinterest to create outfits that match those of the TV show. But not only that, she uses it as a shopping basket/wishlist of sorts and that kind of data is surely valuable. I know for a fact she has made purchases as a result of collections she has created on Pinterest, more times than I can count and I assume many other people have as well. Many might not see the appeal in what appears to be from the outside an over-glorified image collecting service, but it's obvious it's a lot easier for Pinterest to make money in comparison to the likes of Facebook which currently struggle with monetisation. Don't underestimate Pinterest.