Pinterest is the most influential social network for e-commerce | Key4Communications |

Pinterest is not the social network with more members, but is growing very fast: it has nearly 19 million users, seven million more than four months ago. Far from the 900 million of Facebook, but universality does not always mean influence.

US Pinterest users follow on average to 9.3 stores, while the average for Facebook members is 6.9, according to a research by Shop.org, Comscore, and Partnering Group. Moreover, 59% of Pinterest users have purchased a product after seeing it in Pinterest, a percentage that falls to 33% for Facebook members. However, only 14% of Pinterest users share content, compared with 55% of Facebook members and 22% of Twitter users.

As for the reasons to follow brands, discounts are still the favourite (51% of consumers explain so, seven points less than last year), followed by seeking information about a product (43%), and reading or writing reviews about products or services (36%).

This study is in line with others published on the network. According to BlogHer, Pinterest has influenced so far this year on purchases of 47% of American women. The most influential social environment are still blogs (61%), with Facebook (33%) and Twitter (31%) following.

In absolute numbers, Facebook and Twitter dominate the social networking market, but Pinterest may be advantageous for retailers, given the fact that it focuses on images and can be used as a social catalogue.