Pinterest’s “Choose Your Own Adventure” Could Be A Travel Product

Pinterest’s upcoming news event, dubbed “Choose Your Own Adventure,” may not be directly related to the company’s efforts in the personalization space, but rather the announcement of a consumer-facing travel product, we’re hearing. The launch will be aimed at attracting more men to Pinterest’s service, which is today overwhelmingly female.

As to what exactly its travel product will be, we’re less sure. The company already launched “Place Pins,” which allow users to pin their “travel inspiration” links and images to an online map and share those pins with their friends. The forthcoming announcement could serve as some sort of extension to this earlier product, perhaps allowing users to also book travel through the Pinterest website.

According to one person familiar with Pinterest’s plans, the company is currently focused on bringing more men onto the platform — especially affluent men. Travel is the first vertical Pinterest is focusing on with this goal in mind, mainly because this industry has a strong appeal to both men and women, our source reports.

It’s common knowledge that women tend to make most of the purchasing decisions, so Pinterest’s desire to bring more men onto its platform is interesting, and would certainly give the service something of a different vibe if successful. Today, men represent only 14 percent of Pinterest’s total monthly users (women are 86 percent), according to research recently shared by Ahalogy.

That being said, the study also found that the male demographic on Pinterest has been growing: Men are 38 percent more likely to have joined the service in the past six months, and men are more likely than women to try new products, bars, sports, cocktails, repairs or, most notably, travel destinations, the study showed.

Travel-focused products have been on the minds of other social networks of late. The name “Choose Your Own Adventure” could easily be pointing to a travel-focused product, but another big hint emerged today when Facebook announced a new feature encouraging users to share their own travel inspirations. Facebook could be trying to pre-empt Pinterest’s travel product announcement with news of its own.