Pinterest, the latest social media platform to experience massive growth, is a booming success. Since most of us out in the blogosphere are fairly new to this site, we wanted to create an overview for new users. Read below for a quick summary.
What is Pinterest?
Pinterest is a graphical way to show your interests to your social graph.
As today’s fastest growing social media site, Pinterest has reached the top 10 list of the most used social media sites. Launched in December 2009, it is still in beta and is invitation-only. The site has raised $37.5 million in funding to date.
How does it work?
Referred to as a “virtual pinboard”, the site allows you to grab images from any website, and to collect and organize them. All photos give credit to the original source, and include a link to where the photo was taken from. The site has just enabled the option to “pin” videos as well. To make “pinning” easier, you can add a button to your browser.
Who uses Pinterest?
Over half of Pinterest users are female. Due to the focus on categories, such as fashion, shopping, home and crafts, the site has become a forum for e-commerce as well. Pinterest allows members to link back to retail items using the “Gifts” option. For example, if a user “pins” a painting they like that is available on Etsy.com, Pinterest will recognize that this is an item for sale.
Who are its competitors?
Since Pinterest has become a preferred network for females, there has been a noticeable move to create a “brother” site if you will. Some examples include chill.com and gentlemint.com. Chill.com focuses on a different medium, while gentlemint.com is strictly a “more manly” alternative to Pinterest.
What does this mean for advertisers?
Because Pinterest is building an interest graph (a digital map that says ‘this is what I like’), it has the opportunity to be another mechanism for highly targeted advertising. Pinterest is a visualization of your newsfeed. A digestible newsfeed that is personalized to who you are is very appealing to users and advertisers alike. Just as the way brands find the information on your Facebook newsfeed valuable, they will find your Pinterest board similarly valuable.
Keep in mind that Pinterest is not a platform. Imagine it as a big Facebook Connect app. Because it is built off of Facebook, Pinterest knows who you are, who your friends are, etc. The similarities between Facebook and Pinterest technology makes advertising on Pinterest very logical.
What does the future hold for Pinterest? Can it sustain their traffic numbers after the initial hype? Or will it fall to the wayside as other platforms improve their content display? Tell us what you think!