Pinterest now 3rd most popular social networking site after Facebook, Twitter - Experian

From out of nowhere, Pinterest emerges as third most popular social network in the United States, just behind juggernauts Facebook and Twitter. VentureBeat.com cited a new Experian report which showed Pinterest’s traffic surged 50 percent between February and January 2012, a growth it described as stunning. "That surge has allowed the site to overtake services like Tumblr, LinkedIn, and Google+ for what Experian says is the third highest number of visits in February," it said. US-based results in March showed Pinterest (104,415,903 visits) behind Facebook (7.013 billion visits) and Twitter (182,185,057 visits). LinkedIn had 85,733,439 while Tagged had 72,464,356 and Google+ 61,041,990. MySpace had 43,253,148 and myYearbook 38,097,067. Mylife and Tumblr rounded up the Top 10. VentureBeat also noted data from Experian's “2012 Digital Marketer: Benchmark and Trend Report” showed social networking has reached new highs, with 91 percent of adults using social media regularly as well as 15 percent of all US Internet visits dedicated to social media sites in December 2011. But it added the landscape of social media has changed greatly in the past year, citing Pinterest as an example, where no less than President Barack Obama is “pinning” on the network. On the other hand, VentureBeat cited analytics firm comScore showing Pinterest attracted 17.8 million unique visitors in February from the US alone. "In terms of engagement, Pinterest is winning as well, with users spending an average of 89 minutes per month on site. However, the social network still lags behind Facebook, which has users spending an average of 405 minutes per month on its site," it said. Also, it noted VentureBeat is fun for users, and is also a killer tool for marketers. "Pinterest is so popular as of late that it even has tons of clone sites trying to take its concept of pinning photos and products by adding a twist. There are travel-focused sites like Trippy, Wanderfly, and Gtrot. There’s several dude-focused sites like Mantersting, Gentlemint, and even Snatchly, a Pinterest for Porn," it said. — LBG, GMA News