Pinterest appeals to Latin American Internet users

According to comScore, nearly 100% of the Latin American Internet population visit social networking sites every month. Not only that, they spend a lot of time on those websites.

In particular, the number of Pinterest users in Latin America recently witnessed huge growth, reports comScore. In the first four months of 2012 numbers increased from 153,000 to 1.3 million.

As in other countries, women account for the majority of Pinterest users in Latin America (57.2%) and account for two-thirds of time spent on the site (65.2%) and 62.5% of all page views.

In the U.S., growth in Pinterest has been phenomenal. The image-sharing social network grew a staggering 4,377% in the last year, according to comScore's "State of the U.S. Internet". It is outpacing competitors such as Tumblr which grew 168%, LinkedIn (67%) and Twitter (58%).

The demographics and behaviour of Pinterest users have grabbed the attention of many businesses. Not only do they spend more money than users of other social networks but they buy more and conduct more transactions.

A recent study by the National Retail Federation found online U.S. consumers follow an average of 9.3 retail companies on Pinterest, compared to the average 6.9 retailers they follow on Facebook and the 8.5 retailers they track via Twitter.

"Pinterest has given retailers another channel to 'listen' to and interact with both existing and new customers, telling an ongoing visual story through images of their products and their brand 'spirit' - a story that customers can then tell again to their friends and family members," said Shop.org Executive Director Vicki Cantrell.

Tags: brand awareness, ecommerce, image-sharing, Pinterest, retail, social network