Millennial women's use and perception of Pinterest

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore how single young adult women feel about Pinterest. The research took a qualitative phenomenological approach through semistructured, in-person interviews. Participants were selected through purposive sample method, fitting the criteria of: female, non-married, ages 25-35, living in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area, with high use of Pinterest. Through an ethnographic interpretive analysis of field notes and transcripts of the interviews the participants expressed feelings of empowerment, connectedness, sense of control and utilitarian/hedonic value that emerged from the data. These categories of emotions were interpreted by the researcher as ways of coping with stress in their lives. Pinterest, therefore, provided the mechanism for these emotions that allowed them to escape from stress. The findings and resulting conclusions of this study have implications for future research in better understanding how web design can aid millennial women in coping with stress.