Why Do We Pin? New Gratifications Explain Unique Activities in Pinterest

Pinterest is now the fourth most popular social network site after Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn in the United States, offering its own suite of functions. This study investigated why individuals use specific features of Pinterest such as pinning, creating, liking, following, commenting, inviting, sharing, checking, searching, and browsing different categories. An online survey (N=113) revealed that a brand new set of gratifications (specific to digital media) predicted a large number of user behaviors in Pinterest. The results showcased the predictive value of affordance-based gratifications in shaping specific user behaviors on social-media.