Pinterest in Sweden : A Qualitative Study on Swedes’ Pinterest Usage

Abstract: Problem: For businesses, in order to stay in contact with customers and to overall increase brand awareness, social media platforms have become more and more important. Pinterest is a relatively new platform in Europe, which has become extremely popular in the United States for being an inspirational micro blog. As its performance on the American market has shown, Pinterest is especially valuable for businesses with regards to the generation of sales and raising brand awareness. Within Europe, Pinterest might have the best chances to gain popularity in Sweden, since Swedes are more likely to use social media than many other European countries and Swedes are seen as trendsetters in fashion and interior design, which are the main categories on Pinterest. Therefore, even though the audience is still relatively small, being on Pinterest could be very beneficial for Swedish and other European companies. Purpose: Before companies should become active on a new social media platform it is crucial for them to understand its characteristics and further how people are interacting with each other and the platform. The purpose of this thesis is therefore to provide an insight on why and how Swedes are using Pinterest, what impact the technology itself has on the usage and lastly, how Swedish users perceive brands on Pinterest. Methodology: In order to receive a deep understanding of the way Pinterest is used by Swedes, a qualitative research approach and more specifically in-depth interviews were chosen as the appropriate method. The questions of the interviews were selected with regards to the following theories and concepts: need fulfillment, Theory of Reasoned Action, Technology Acceptance Model and the awareness of brand activity. Conclusion: The findings from the in-depths interviews show that Pinterest’s main purpose, compared to other social media platforms, is not in being social. For Swedish users, it is rather a platform for personal inspiration, which is also reflected in the overall irregular usage of Pinterest. So far, brands are not attracting much attention among Swedish users, whose general attitude towards brand activity on the platform is positive, as long as businesses follow specific behavioral rules. This basically means to keep being interesting and not bothersome for the user.