Pinterest gnawing away at time spent on other social media sites

According to Compete's latest Online Shopper Intelligence Survey, the new kid on the social networking block, Pinterest, is drawing consumers away from other social media sites.

One in 4 of the consumers surveyed said they now spent less time on other social media sites in favor of Pinterest. Furthermore, the image-sharing social network is attracting an audience of social networking virgins. Fifteen percent of Pinterest users said they had never before used social media.

"Marketers will likely need to evolve their digital strategies given the above finding that 39% of the market has changed their social networking behavior in some way due to Pinterest," writes Jason Caine on the Compete blog.

Food-related images are what most (57%) Pinterest users are interacting with, found Compete, followed by Home (40%) and Arts & Crafts (34%).

The survey also reveals that more men than women are making a purchase as a result of seeing something they like on Pinterest. Thirty-seven percent of men made a purchase compared to just 17% of women.

Recent research has shown that Pinterest isn't just about pretty pictures - it has been seen to outstrip Facebook when it comes to driving web traffic. When online boutique Bottica.com compared 50,000 visitors on Pinterest with the same number on Facebook they found more website transactions came from the social image-sharing network than Facebook - 10% vs. 7% - and average order values were higher.

Tags: consumer insight, digital strategy, online sales, social media, social network, website traffic