Pinterest... for guys? That's the premise behind the sudden rise of guy-centric pinning sites with names like Dudepins, Manteresting, PunchPin, and DartIt Up, which are all vying to be the manliest alternative to Pinterest. Here's what you should know about the trend:
Why create a Pinterest for guys?
Pinterest, the social network that lets users post to a digital pinboard, has a fanbase of more than 20 million users — and 83 percent of them are women. These new sites, says Umika Pidaparthy at CNN, will have "fewer photos of wedding dresses" and instead focus on more manly accoutrements like "pics of beards, babes, guns, Harleys, and bottles of whiskey." Sites like Manteresting operate under the premise, "Interesting.Man.Things," and have users "nail" rather than "pin" their finds on a dark steel background (as opposed to Pinterests' pallette of whites and reds).
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But doesn't Pinterest welcome guys?
It does. In fact, some of the site's most prolific and followed pinners are male, including CEO and co-founder Ben Silbermann. In the U.K., the gender divide is actually reversed: 56 percent of pinners are guys. The explanation could simply be that Pinterest is still in a "pre-evolutionary stage," says Ricard Poupada, co-founder of men's interest site AskMen.com (which also uses Pinterest to reach its audiences). "Facebook was once considered for college students," and maybe Pinterest will become a site that entices users of both genders equally.
Who's creating these so-called man sites?
Dudepins, perhaps the most visible of the new glut of Pinterest clones, is based in Vancouver, and was created by Colin Brown and Kamil Szybalski. "We thought Pinterest was great," says Brown, "but I just didn't feel like I was connecting with people who had similar tastes." Now, the site's creators say that their followings are growing 30 to 50 percent every week.
Are dude sites really necessary?
"Frankly it feels old to me," says Monica Hesse at The Washington Post. What made Pinterest such a success was its resolute femininity, which made the social network "the exception, not the rule." Dudepins, on the other hand, doesn't feel much different from the shareables on Tumblr or Twitter. I can't see this lasting long. "Typical men: As soon as they see something women have, they have to have it for themselves," says Adrian Chen at Gawker. "Get over yourselves, dudes. Maybe you'll even learn a little about closet organizing."
Sources: CNN, Gawker, Poynter, Washington Post
