Pinterest has quickly become one of the top social networking sites out there, sparking the interest of crafters, event hosts, fashionistas and inspiration lovers worldwide. Emphasis on the word “fashionista” – the site has a user base that is up to 97 percent female.
It’s not that the site is purposely leaving men out. There are plenty of male users on the site and an abundance of content for them to pin, repin, browse and create; it’s just simply become a medium that women almost entirely dominate. The simple and easy design allows for women to get lost in the endless amounts of inspiration for weddings, fashion, cooking, crafting and various other interest and hobbies.
But, hey, men like all of those things too. In fact, they get married, get dressed, cook food, have projects and certainly have a wide range of interests just as much as women. There’s no big split in gender use in all of the other social media sites. What gives?
Allow me to introduce Mustashed, a social media site designed and built specifically for guys to discover, connect and “Stash!” content that interests them. No Shave November may be behind us, but the male adoration for facial hair lives on – in the title of the site, at least. The message behind the name is that this is a site targeted toward guys – an untapped market when it comes to the pinning network Pinterest.
Mustashed targets men ages 17-40 but also welcomes both men and women outside of that demographic to join the site, which will help add to the robustness and general content quality of the site. I got a chance to talk to one of the co-founders, Rickey Jasper II, 22, about the creation and future of the site.
“The reason for the initial target audience is because we want gentlemen to have a site that they can go to for all information and content relevant to them in a quick, but engaging environment,” explained Jasper. “Pinterest was a part of this inspiration because guys usually seem a bit bashful on the site due to its target audience. We liked that Pinterest allowed you to share content with such ease and connect with other users with similar interests.”
Jasper is one of three co-founders for Mustashed. Chris Salguero, 23, and Connor Forman, 23, also had a vision for the male-targeted interest site.
The design of the site has an obvious resemblance to Pinterest, but the content seems to be the differentiating factor for Mustashed. As boards are to Pinterest, frames are to Mustashed. Frames are the way users organize the content they 'Stash!' I’m looking forward to seeing the response from males once the site goes live, set to launch sometime in the next week.
Jasper continued, “In speaking with people who used Pinterest, we understood that ideas for how you could improve personal life were aplenty. We wanted to give guys an avenue to find ways for self improvement while giving them a way to express themselves through the content they Stash!”
“We did not know exactly what Mustashed would be when we first envisioned it, but we could not be more excited with our current product,” said Jasper. “It was created because we knew we wanted something to put our stamp on, call our own, build how we saw best and impact as many lives as possible. As recent college graduates we all wanted do something more than just ‘work in the real world.’ What you see on Mustashed.com is a vision we had to bring users together to share and connect on a forum that guys previously did not have a strong presence in. We wanted to build something that expands and deepens users’ knowledge of their interests, while kindling passion and creativity for new ones.”
A factor worth noting and a pat on the back to technology – for the past four months the three co-founders have only had two face-to-face meetings. Everything that has been accomplished up until now has been done remotely via online chat, text messaging or conference calls.
The Mustashed men are hoping to reach 1,000 likes on its Facebook page (currently at 620) before the official launch. Once live, you can visit www.mustashed.com
“We really have fed off of the support of family and friends who have been close to the process,” said Jasper. “And since we have made our creation public with the Mustashed Page on Facebook (News - Alert), the support has been overwhelming. We could not be thankful enough to everyone that has reached out and offered words of encouragement or a post of their own sharing the Mustashed Page.”