September 7, 2011

Pinterest takes the idea of “pinning” to the virtual world

Pinterest is a new social networking site with a unique proposition. It’s a virtual pinboard — a place on the web where you can curate the things that inspire you.

I first heard of Pinterest through the October 17 blog. Back then, I dismissed Pinterest as just another Tumblr-wannabe. After using the site for several weeks though, I think it’s quite unique.

Pics, pics, pics!

Unlike most other social media platforms, Pinterest is dedicated to just pictures. You might think that this is a limitation, but I’m finding that it’s not. Many of the inspirational things I find on the web are images anyway, so this works for me.

On Pinterest, you can have several pin boards with different themes, a feature that isn’t available on Tumblr. You can also invite contributors to pin pictures on your boards. I find that boards are a good way of organizing your inspirations.

There’s also a handy browser add-on to help you quickly pin pictures that you come across on the web.

Opportunities for businesses

Pinterest doesn’t have any business pages, but that doesn’t mean businesses can’t use it. Here are some ideas how you might use it:

Use Pinterest to show inspiration for new designs or new projects.
Showcase new products that you’re selling by pinning pictures of those items. Users can “like” and “re-pin” pins or to comment on them. There may be an opportunity here to engage your brand’s fans.
Pin nice inforgraphics so you can quickly go back to them when you need them for presentations, blog posts, etc.

As you might expect, Pinterest allows you to publish your pins on Twitter and Facebook for further social media integration.

Bound to be a niche site

Right now, I don’t see how Pinterest can become mainstream. Its greatest strength is its simplicity, and there’s no way it can attract the masses without adding some complexities to the site.

I think it will remain a niche site for the creative types — and honestly, that’s a good thing. I wouldn’t want to see cheap Photoshopped GIFs making their way to this site.

Essentially, Pinterest is a more elegant, grown-up version of Tumblr. Everything on Pinterest is clean and slick. It’s a nice addition to the social media space currently cluttered by many websites offering badges, rewards, etc.