Odds are that you’ve never heard of We Heart It. No, it isn’t a music streaming service or the latest online dating website. Instead, We Heart It is a photo-based social network that blends elements of Pinterest with the fresh appeal of Tumblr.
The site has largely flown under the radar thus far but with a recent round of funding to the tune of $8 million, We Heart It is now being thrust into the limelight as a serious competitor to other media-sharing services.
The service originally hit the web in late 2007 – a full two years before Pinterest launched, mind you – and has been growing organically ever since. The site’s creator, Fabio Giolito, eventually left his job at Yahoo and incorporated in California in 2011. Things continued to grow quietly and today, We Heart It boasts more than 20 million monthly users with a million new signups each month.
The service is truly engaging as evident by usage data. The average member spends roughly 16.5 minutes on the site during each visit and opens the mobile app more than 25 times per month. But who exactly are these people?
Most are young females below the age of 24 which is a completely different demographic than other sharing sites like Pinterest. The site’s theme is about inspiration – sharing inspirational and beautiful images with others.
The company now employs 16 full-time workers and even with an extra $8 million in the bank, it’ll be business as usual for We Heart It. The plan for now is to continue to build the user experience and grow the member base. They have toyed with revenue generation projects in the past but for now, those plans are being put on the backburner, we’re told.
