Pinterest has not often been considered the type of social media platform that could stand up to the stalwarts of that industry, but 2020 proved that the site had a lot to offer. Amidst widespread lockdowns, quite a few tech companies and social media companies in particular saw massive growth, and Pinterest managed to make itself a truly major player in that industry despite a lot of skepticism regarding whether or not it had any long term value for the most part.
The last quarter of 2020 and the first quarter of 2021 saw pretty healthy growth rates for Pinterest’s user base. The social media platform managed to increase its total number of users by 37% and 30% during those quarters, but with all of that having been said and now out of the way it is important to note that it is not been able to maintain its growth rate at all once lockdowns started to be suspended and people slowly but surely started to get involved in their normal lives.
After getting to 478 million users and finding the coveted half billion user mark finally within range in Q1 2021, Pinterest growth rate started to plummet. Its growth rate fell to 9% in the subsequent quarter, and just 1% in the quarter after that, and in Q4 2021 the company saw its worst quarter in a really long while with a -6% growth rate.
This has resulted in the platform losing around 47 million monthly active users in 2021. It still has around 430 million monthly active users, but it failed to cross half a billion and is now struggling to find a way to regain the momentum it has lost. This just goes to show that growth that is precipitated by unforeseen circumstances can’t always be maintained.
People did not feel the need to keep using Pinterest once they weren’t trapped in lockdown anymore, and Pinterest didn’t give them a reason to stay. Its efforts to keep momentum going after lockdowns ended were not successful, and the platform will have its work cut out for it if it wants brands to keep taking it seriously as an advertising platform.
Read next: Facebook to Lose $10 Billion This Year Because of Apple’s New Policies
The last quarter of 2020 and the first quarter of 2021 saw pretty healthy growth rates for Pinterest’s user base. The social media platform managed to increase its total number of users by 37% and 30% during those quarters, but with all of that having been said and now out of the way it is important to note that it is not been able to maintain its growth rate at all once lockdowns started to be suspended and people slowly but surely started to get involved in their normal lives.
After getting to 478 million users and finding the coveted half billion user mark finally within range in Q1 2021, Pinterest growth rate started to plummet. Its growth rate fell to 9% in the subsequent quarter, and just 1% in the quarter after that, and in Q4 2021 the company saw its worst quarter in a really long while with a -6% growth rate.
This has resulted in the platform losing around 47 million monthly active users in 2021. It still has around 430 million monthly active users, but it failed to cross half a billion and is now struggling to find a way to regain the momentum it has lost. This just goes to show that growth that is precipitated by unforeseen circumstances can’t always be maintained.
People did not feel the need to keep using Pinterest once they weren’t trapped in lockdown anymore, and Pinterest didn’t give them a reason to stay. Its efforts to keep momentum going after lockdowns ended were not successful, and the platform will have its work cut out for it if it wants brands to keep taking it seriously as an advertising platform.
Read next: Facebook to Lose $10 Billion This Year Because of Apple’s New Policies