Sign of the Apocalypse #76: Pinterest is worth billions

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Yes, I get that it sort of makes sense, and New York's Kevin Roose points to some shocking stats:

• Percentage of U.S. Internet-using women that are on Pinterest: 20 percent
• Number of Pinterest business accounts: 500,000
• Sephora’s Pinterest followers spend fifteen times more that its Facebook fans.
• Pinterest accounts for 25 percent of retail referral traffic.
• Pinterest’s share of referrals is highest in home and furnishings, accounting for up to 60 percent of all social traffic.
• Pinterest shoppers are spending significantly more per checkout, averaging between $140–$180 per order compared with consistent $80 and $60 orders for Facebook and Twitter shoppers, respectively.

There are already about 70 million users. I may not be one of them, and I don't even know if I know anyone who's a user, and, as Roose points out, those users may not come from the tech and investor communities that tend to determine what's valuable and what's not, but the popularity, and possibility, of this social networking site is undeniable.

Still...

The site just raised $225 million at a valuation of $3.8 billion — making it worth fifteen times as much as the Washington Post, twice as much as the New York Times, and more than Spotify, as of its last closed funding round.

That's fucking insane -- a sign of the insanity of our time and of the apocalypse that must surely be just around the corner.