• by Erik Sass , Staff Writer, February 1, 2012

I think I am speaking for many men when I recall my initial reaction to Pinterest: “So you post pictures of things you’re interested in -- or that you just happen to like the way they look -- and then… talk about them?  And that’s it?” But now that the site has built a loyal user base numbering millions of women, it’s inevitably trying to attract male users as well. And drawing on my deep knowledge of gender relations gleaned from standup comedy routines, Cosmopolitan, and other trustworthy sources, I would argue that getting men engaged with Pinterest is a plausible goal, for a couple reasons.

First of all, Pinterest is primarily visual, with content organized around images which lead interested users to text. This is (supposedly) well-suited to the male cognitive model, where visual input dominates other forms of information and analysis -- especially verbal. While this old stereotype may make us sound a bit like cavemen, well, stereotypes are often based on truth. The implications for Pinterest should be interesting, to say the least: there’s no reason you can’t be “pinterested” in, say, the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Models or mixed martial arts (on that note, the “domestic divas” tagline may need to be revised).

Second, Pinterest is actually an ideal medium for that most beloved of guy institutions, the do-it- yourself project. The do-it-yourself home renovations and gadget subcultures are already supporting multi-billion-dollar industries, along with a whole ecosystem of Web sites, blogs, and yes, social networks. There’s no reason male gadgeteers and home reno enthusiasts can’t transfer their online activities to Pinterest forums -- where (crucially) they may also find a wider audience to tell them how awesome their handywork is.

And this is at least one area where the female and male subcultures devoted to making stuff overlap: whether it’s an interior design concept or a home-made rocket, one of the main reasons people post the details of their projects online is to reap all those admiring comments. At the end of the day, maybe the genders will be brought together by simple vanity.