I joke, but this is my reaction to what I hear most often. If you haven’t heard, Pinterest is the newest kid on the social block. With its unique interface that employs the best of image and link sharing, the site has found a quickly multiplying following. Haven’t heard of it? Take notice. Just last month, this site drove more referral traffic to sites than did LinkedIn, YouTube, or Google+.
Founded in March 2010, Pinterest made its name amongst a mostly female audience sharing ideas on weddings, recipes, fashion, and family. And though these things are still the meat of the site, Pinterest has branched to a much larger audience. Though the site has only roughly ten-and-a-half million registered users, unique visitor traffic more than quadrupled in the final months of 2011. And in January 2012, Pinterest became the fastest site ever to top 10 million unique visitors per month.
At this time, Pinterest is still an "invitation-only" site. You will need to request access or be invited by someone who is already on. After you set up an account, you choose the boards that you want to "pin" things to. Some default boards already exist, like “Places I want to go” and “Products I like,” and, based on your profile choices, Pinterest will suggest people for you to follow. After that, you are off.
To share pins, navigate the Pinterest site by search or by choosing categories you find interesting. You find pictures or links you like and pin them to the board of your choice. Those who follow you will see your re-pins, and anyone can comment on them. You can follow those people who tend to pin the kinds of things you are interested in. If you want to create pins for sites/pages you find (what else?) pinteresting, just add the “Pin It” button to your browser and begin adding content to the site at will.
Pinterest has been called the next social commerce game-changer. And though I am not apt to give things names before their time, I will say that this is a great concept, taking the best of blogs and image-sharing sites and morphing them with a usable and addictive interface. Not only more men (including myself) but even companies are getting in on the game, discovering that board-posting can generate traffic to their Websites and widen their audience sets. Nordstrom and Mashable have pages on Pinterest… so why not component distributors like my own firm? Why not, indeed: http://pinterest.com/TTIinc.
Time will only tell of course, what future the site has or if it will simply be purchased by another company and killed (I just saw that Facebook owner Mark Zuckerberg is already doing some personal research). But if "right now" is of interest to you, then Pinterest is the "right now" of all things social.
Have questions? Want to get started and need an invitation? Leave a comment, and let’s get the conversation started.
@Mr. Roques & @Pocharle -- I laughed when I read your two posts. I was just telling someone the other day what I thought the great equalizers would be to bridge the gender gap on Pinterest. One of them was "Desserts" and the other was "Women are there". Cheers!
No problem. I think that that user base flow is probably more effective. Much like clubs and social events, men follow where women go. The online dynamic is identical. If alot of women flock to a certain website where interaction is the crutch, you will slowly start to notice that men will soon follow suit.
@pacharle - I have read similar statistics. And yes, Facebook had a female majority user group for its first few major years. I believe the stat is closer now, but I wouldn't be surprised if women still lead the way on Facebook. I gravitate to a good concept, whether it be dominated by men or women. And I think this is a concept that, if refined, could go far. Looking forward to finding out. Thanks for your comment.
@Rich Krajewski - Ha Ha, Rich :) I'm glad you commented though as it gives me the chane to say what I didn't earlier--I titled it that way because the site has a fun, young feel to it--one that helps you collect dreams and wishes that is reminiscent of a little girl's 'dream box'. But the truth is you could keep one of those at any age, which is what makes Pinterest so endearing.
@Mr. Roques -- I loved Tumblr for this reason; for quick and easy photo and post sharing that becomes part of one's stream. I would say that what Pinterest does better is two-fold. The interface and tag searching is much more intuitive. The difference can be seen for non-logged-in users immediately when you go to Tumblr.com and then compare that to Pinterest.com. Also, the images on pinterest are representative links to Website content whereas in Tumblr they are just shared images. It seems that sharing the image just for the image is only a secondary aim of Pinterest. Thanks for commenting.
@Barb - That's a nice assessment, Barb. In an earlier life, I was an investment professional and I lived through the tech boom and subsequent crash. It was a crazy experience. I see the similarities you see especially in the valuations of the networks. In the Dot Com era, the question was 'how do I value something so ethereal as a good concept?' In the Social era, we are answering for 'how do I value data?' In the end, the survival of the social networks depends on the answer to this question. They must have a revenue model that works and data is what they have--data that enables them to serve up advertisement at a micro-segmented level. But where retirement was at stake before for investors, the thing I see at risk here is personal data. In either case, the similarity is that there is still the choice not to participate.
Love to hear other's thoughts on this great correlation. Thanks for weighing in!
I remember reading an article a few years ago that said women are better and quicker at picking trends that will 'stick'. So, technically, doesn't that mean that if a large group of women like a new technology or offering, it is a good idea to jump on the bandwagon early. I'm sure this isn't always the case. But if I remember correctly, in college, most people I heard about Facebook from were female, now look at it.
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Thailand Stages a Comeback Join EBN contributor Jennifer Baljko on Thursday August 23, 2012, at 11:00 a.m. EST for a live chat on how electronic manufacturers in Thailand have shored up their supply chain to reduce the impact of future natural disasters.
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Join EBN contributor Jennifer Baljko on Thursday August 23, 2012, at 11:00 a.m. EST for a live chat on how electronic manufacturers in Thailand have shored up their supply chain to reduce the impact of future natural disasters.
Peter Drucker famously said "Trying to predict the future is like trying to drive down a country road at night with no lights while looking out the back window." Yet in the razor's-edge world of electronics—with a lean supply chain and just-in-time demands—the need to know the future is vital.
While no one really can accurately predict the future, we can take guidance from another Drucker saying which is the best way to predict the future is to create it.
You've heard the saying "the No. 1 supply chain risk is your people." That hasn't always been the case. But today's complex global supply chain requires a new type of multitalented employee. It's one who understands, finance, marketing, economics, is savvy with technology, graceful with relationships and can think analytically.
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Brian Fuller, editor-in-chief of EBN, will lead a 60-minute Avnet Velocity panel discussion that will ask and answer these and other questions swirling around today's supply-chain talent challenges.
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