Over the last year or so, the hottest topic has been Pinterest - the pinning, the secret boards, brand elements, driving ecommerce -- it's on everyone's mind. Instagram has made a bit of a splash lately, but not of the same caliber, and many have been wondering, when's the next hottest platform going to come?
The other morning I was brushing my teeth and listening to The Today Show coming in from the other room and heard Matt Lauer say something about the Winklevoss twins, so I popped my head in to see what their latest news was. Even if it was just another funny commercial poking fun at themselves, it seemed worth it. Making my way in, I was pleasantly surprised to hear "this is not a social network". They were announcing their new project, Hukkster, a shopping tool which allows you to "hukk" (much like pinning) items to the site, which will then email you once they go on sale. Pretty simple, right?
Later that day I decided to check it out. After signing up, I quickly "hukked" a few things to get that hang of it, and was impressed with its simple layout, easy instructions and lack of gizmos and gadgets pushing me to share my every move on Twitter and Facebook. I tweeted about it and was promptly @-replied by their official channel which left me feeling extra positive about the entire experience.
A few days later I received an email from them letting me know a dress I hukked had gone on sale. What a wonderful surprise! So easy, so simple, I was hooked. I then went on a hukking rampage and often found myself in the next few days choosing my "hukk it" button over my "pin it" one. Would this be my new Pinterest?
While it does lack a number of Pinterest-like features such as public profiles, a more visual board set-up (it does have lists to categorize your hukks) and availability to hukk on sites like Amazon, I am seeing potential. Personally, I have begun seeing my cursor drift over to the "hukk-it" button so much lately, looks like Pinterest might have some serious competition in the near future.