Research over Pinterest’s rapid growth since it’s introduction has highlighted some fairly important findings. In essence, the site is an online pin board/visual bookmarking site and has gone from strength to strength since it’s official launch in 2011. The site still requires ‘invite to join’, although it appears users are being welcomed as most are receiving an invite a few days after requesting one on the Pinterest home page.

Pinterest is proving a very valuable source of traffic to a number of businesses. Boasting a direct link to revenue, it is of particular value to those companies’ operating in the retail and clothing sectors. Many businesses that have chosen to use the social network for commercial purposes are finding it returns investment far more than Facebook or Twitter, likely because there’s a direct relation between interest and purchase.

Perhaps the most significant set of statistics surround the networks user base – over 97% of Pinterest’s fans on Facebook are women. That’s a fairly staggering figure, considering the fan count current sits at around 2.1 million.

In addition, there’s some estimates that suggest that over 80% (83% to be exact) of Pinterest’s users are female, and that its key demographic is 18 to 34 year old women. The site had a recorded 10.4 million users back in February 2012, meaning over 8.6 million of them were women.

On that basis, if you’re looking for that special lady in your life, perhaps Pinterest is the perfect place?