Pinterest Says It Has 100 Million Monthly Active Users

For the first time in its five-year history, Pinterest has released its user total and it’s a big round one: 100 million monthly active members.

That’s still well behind Twitter and Instagram’s 300 million+ and Facebook’s 1.5 billion, but Pinterest has been making the case that it should be considered less a social network and more a search and discovery service. It would rather be compared to Google and argues that because Pinterest users are uniquely interested and engaged with products, the platform is an especially good environment for marketers.

Pinterest shared more evidence to bolster its case today. It said 70 percent of its users engage with content on the network by saving or clicking on something. And that the number of searches within Pinterest has increased 81 percent in the last year. And that two-thirds of content people Pin come from business’ websites (a stat that the company has released previously).

“People are planning out really core and important parts of their lives on Pinterest,” Ben Silbermann, Pinterest’s chief executive and a co-founder, told the New York Times.

In the last year, Pinterest has been focusing on more ways for businesses to reach its audience. In January it officially launched its Promoted Pin advertising product. And in June it rolled out Buyable Pins, a way for retailers to sell their goods directly on the network.

Here are some other growth and usage stats released by the company today:

• The number of Pinners doubled in the past 18 months
• International users have doubled in the last year and make up about 45% of the total.
• People have created more than 130 million boards categorized as Home Decor, which represent rooms that people have or want to someday redecorate.
• People have created more than 180 million boards related to Food/Drink. Some of these are dinners that people will cook next week. Some are next year’s holiday dinner.
• There are nearly 300 million boards about fashion, created by Pinners looking to discover their sense of style.
• There are more than 30 million education boards created by teachers and parents helping kids learn in a more creative way.
• There are more than 296 million fashion boards