Calling all chefs, wedding planners, stylists, and crafty-types: Pinterest has just opened registration to the public after two years of requiring an invite to join. Anyone can now sign up with Twitter, Facebook, or just an email address.
Its growth has already been staggering, so it will be fascinating to see what happens next. Will users flood in faster than ever before? Or will the lack of exclusivity make membership seem less trendy?
This afternoon, Pinterest announced to readers of its adorably named “Oh, How Pinteresting” blog:
“We’re really excited to have the capacity to offer Pinterest to more people and if you’re a Pinner with friends who’ve been waiting on the sidelines, we hope you’ll let them know. Happy pinning to everyone!”
Pinterest hit 10 million unique monthly U.S. visitors back in February, and hasn’t shown signs of stopping. By April, Experian said Pinterest had 107 million visits per month.
Some thought Facebook would alienate its core user base of college students when it finally opened to the public. Quite the opposite. Accepting everyone jumpstarted growth. The same could be true for Pinterest.
Keeping itself invitation-only was likely due to engineering constraints. Throwing open the doors too soon could have crashed the site. But after making tons of hires and moving into a new 60,000 square foot San Francisco office, there’s no need keep growth slow and steady. Hope the Pinterest engineers have a jug of Sangria handy. They could be in a for a long night.