Everybody wants to be Pinterest these days. Even Facebook.
From the way that start-up social networks position their companies lately, you'd think that Pinterest was a hotbed of dissatisfaction, with users demanding visual sites for every niche topic they can think of. While it may sound trendy, the extent that people compare their companies to Pinterest borders on the absurd. Don't believe me? Consider this modest list:
The long tail of niche Pinterests
- Project Decor is like Pinterest for Home Design
- Learnist is like Pinterest for Learning
- Urbantag is like Pinterest for Real World Places
- Pandawhale is like Pinterest for forums
- Chill is like Pinterest for Video
- Gogobot is like Pinterest for your travels
- Curisma is like Pinterest for geeks
- Pictify is like Pinterest for cultured, arty types and gallery owners
- Bangstyle is like Pinterest for hair
- Svpply is like Pinterest for cool stuff
- Wedding Gawker is like Pinterest for wedding planning
- Bundlr is like Pinterest for curated media
- iwannanom.com is like Pinterest for food porn
- Educlipper is like Pinterest for teachers
- Loudlee is like Pinterest for music
- Mainandme is like Pinterest for local
- Gentlemint is like Pinterest for boys
- Trello is like Pinterest for projects
- Fab.com is like Pinterest for eCommerce
- Manteresting, Dudepins and Dartitup are like Pinterest for dudes
- Snatchly is like Pinterest for porn
- The Fancy is like Pinterest for ecommerce... both Kanye West and Apple are fans
That's crazy
A couple of things I'd like to point out:
First, developing a network predicated on the assumption that men would embrace pinning if the topics were more relevant to their gender doesn't seem particularly sound to me. For the same reason they don't have ladies night on Google Plus, I wouldn't invest a lot of resources into getting guys to pin more.
Secondly, there is a place where all potential users can go for a Pinterest-type experience with a wide audience that explores long tail topics. It's a site you may have heard of by the name of Pinterest. Most of these derivative sites will probably fail because they overestimate the appeal of a community dedicated to niche content. Users can get all the same content (and much more) in a larger community on Pinterest.
The next big thing in social
So will the next big thing in social be a derivation of Pinterest? By the number of clones you might think so, but I have a suspicion that the Pinterest-like site most likely to endure will be Pinterest. I also suspect that the next big thing in social will be something completely unrelated, that can't be described as the Pinterest of anything.
The post How many Pinterests does the world need? by Jim Dougherty appeared first on Leaders West.