Marketers now have a better understanding of the audience potential of Pinterest, as the company has revealed today it has reached 100 million monthly active users.

The number of monthly active Pinterest users has reportedly doubled over the past 18 months, with 45% of new users residing outside the US.

International growth has been a focus for the company, according to Pinterest spokesperson Jamie Favazza, who also stated the social network is now available in over 30 languages.

Pinterest’s user growth rate has been slow compared to social networks like Snapchat, which has accumulated 100 million monthly active users in significantly less time.

Pinterest’s explosive user growth rate over the past 18 months coincides with the many initiatives launched by company designed to attract new users and new advertisers.

Over the course of the past 18 months Pinterest has launched a Buy button for e-commerce stores, introduced “buyable Pins” featuring the Buy button, and made buyable pins accessible on mobile devices.

Other major changes include the addition of Promoted Pins, an advertising unit that was made available to all users at the beginning of this year.

Pinterest has also released a slew of new features to improve the users experience — including private messaging, guided search, and the Pin It button that we’re now used to seeing everywhere.

When you take all of that into consideration, there’s a correlation between Pinterest’s accelerated user growth, and the number of new features over the past 18 months.

The Pin It button has made the network more visible around the web, which could have played a role in attracting new users. The company’s focus on becoming more of a search and discovery platform may have contributed to retaining these new users while encouraging them to log in month after month.

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As Pinterest evolves, its user base has grown along with it. Further expansion plans include introducing “app pins”, which will somehow allow people to download apps from Pins without the need for Apple’s App Store. Expect to hear more about that before the end of the year.

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