I've been exploring Pinterest over the last few days and have become victim to its addictive layout and discovery possibilities. It's almost like the first time I was on the internet... you just dig deeper and deeper and the next thing you know, it's 3 hours later (or 3am so I've decided to blog about it).
Over the past 2 years, Pinterest has been gaining momentum, but Hitwise's listing them as one of the Web's Top 10 Social Networks, has recently pushed them over the edge (attracting over 11 million visitors in mid-December). Beating out Google+ and Tumblr, and having raised over $35 million in Venture Capitalist funding, it may be worth your while to have a quick look at Pinterest and see how it works.
To get you started, let's begin with some terminology:
- What are "Pins"? A pin is any image that is added to your online pinboard. You can link to them from the web or upload your own and add captions for interest.
- Repins? Repinning is when you pin something to your board that has been on someone else's. This is a way to share great content with your own followers.
- Board? This is where you group related pins. You can have separate pins for different categories like: family room design, technology and gadgets, gift ideas etc
Browser Bookmarking and adding price information
A cool thing about Pinterest is that you can add a bookmark to your Web browser so you can pin images from other sites. So if you're shopping online (say at Pottery Barn), you can click the bookmark to create a pin of that image. This will automatically link that photo to the Pottery barn website, so someone can find out more if they want. Adding pricing information to the pin, will show that item's price whenever someone mouses over the picture on your pinboard.
Collaboration possibilities
Pinterest's future (I believe) lies in its collaboration capabilities. Adding contributors to one of your pinboards will let you work together to plan that event or collect research and information for that long-term project. I don't see any business-focused marketing at the moment, but this is a market Pinterest should tap into very soon. Because the site isn't timeline-based, I know I'll be using it for organizing and project collaboration, as soon as I can get through all of these home decorating pins!
At the moment, Pinterest is only open to invited users. You can request an invite invite at www.pinterest.com and you should have an invite in your inbox within a day or two.