slideshow

Pinterest is the new hot social network, but Mormons have been all over it since last year.

Gawker notes that Pinterest hits a sweet spot for members of the LDS church because it's the "most inoffensive, white bread place on the internet...sheltered from the blasted racist hellscape of the rest of the web."

One reason for Pinterest's Mormon base is simply demographic. Pinterest's demographic sweet spot is young new mothers, which includes a lot of Mormon women, as they get pregnant early and often. Mommy bloggers blew up Pinterest like early Pitchfork blew up the Arcade Fire, and a number of powerhouse mommy blogs, like Taza and Husband, are run by Mormons. (They're also big on Pinterest).

The focus on homemaking means Mormon women are also more inclined to pursing crafts and cooking, two of the more popular topics on Pinterest. One of Ann Romney's first boards includesrecipes of low-fat turkey burgers and a "Gluten-free desert pizza" that looks too gross to post on the internet, much less eat. Kae Fisher cites her involvement in the Mormon women's organization the Relief Society as teaching her the skills she uses Pinterest to foster.

"I know of so many women who are so talented in areas such as sewing, knitting, scrapbooking, baking., etc. largely due to this program," she said. "The creative side of me came from learning from others in this program. Pinterest is like the head websites the Mormons turn to for creativity, I think."

But there's also a cultural drive among Mormons to cultivate and share an image of domestic bliss—and Pinterest is the perfect packaging vehicle for that aim. Pinterest traffics in that relentless, almost eerie perfection that has made Mormon Mommy blogs popular even among non-Mormons, and Mitt Romney barely popular with Republicans. Mitt Romney's daughter-in-law, Mary, had one such blog, until she took it down today amid media attention.