Political groups target key voting demographic on Pinterest

Politics has found Pinterest.

A boom in users on the social media site — and the fact that more than two-thirds are women — is attracting political messages to the site best known for recipes, crafts and I-want-that images. In political persuasion, as in marketing, "it's always the next big hot thing," says Zac Moffatt, digital director for Republican Mitt Romney's presidential campaign. "And it's kind of hot right now." Beth Becker, a digital media consultant, says there was little or no political content on Pinterest when she started using the site in January. Now, advocacy groups such as ThinkProgress, a website run by the liberal Center for American Progress; the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank; the AFL-CIO; the Democratic National Committee; and a gaggle of Republican members of Congress are on the site.