The newly popular site Pinterest, happens to not be so new. The site launched in March 2010, but it seems 2011 is it’s year of user growth and popularity. The invitation only site emerged as one of the top 10 social networking sites in December 2011. According to Experian Hitwise, the site nearly received 11 million total visits during the week ending December 17, 2011, which is almost 40 times the total amount of visits it received only six months prior ( June 2011).
What Exactly Is Pinterest?
Pinterest is a social photo sharing website and app where users create “PinBoards,” which is basically a virtual bulletin board, to share photos found on the internet that interest them (hence the name Pinterest). Users can also “Pin” other people’s images, found on Pinterest, into their created pinboards by clicking on the “Re-Pin” button or show that they too like a photo by clicking on the “Like” button, similar to the one on Facebook. Taken from Pinterest’s mission statement, “Our goal is to connect everyone in the world through the ‘things’ they find interesting,” helps in summing up what it is, quite nicely.
Like most other social sites, users can follow other users and share their “Pins/Re-Pins” to Facebook and Twitter. Pinterest profiles are not private so anyone can see and re-pin what another user has “pinned” onto the site. Users do not have to rely on just what their friends have “pinned” either, for they can also narrow interests by category, such as, Photography, Science, Fitness, Geek, and so on.
Recently, Pinterest added a Video and Gifts section as another way to share and find interests, which ultimately makes it even more interesting. If that is not enough, Pinterest also has a button that users can drag to their browsers toolbar and when browsing the web, users can simply add/pin images, videos, etc. to their collection, called the “Pin-It” button. Seriously, can it get any easier than that!
The sites social side is created by connecting people through photos and is not highly dependent (as most other social networking sites are) on words, which seems to be making it stand out. Similar sites to Pinterest are Instagram in the way that it creates content and Squidoo with its social aspects, however, it looks to be more organized around people than it is topics. Therefore, if you like or use either of these two sites than Pinterest may be of interest to you.
After discovering Pinterest, it seems this question, “Why so much interest in Pinterest?” answers itself, “Why not!”
Has Pinterest got your interest yet?
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About Amanda Ryan
+Amanda Ryan is a Social Media Operative for Automotive clients with KPA. Amanda's interests are in researching and writing about share worthy news; and in providing relevant content surrounding what's happening in the world of Social Media. Her main objective is to "Find what connects us; one share at a time". Connect further with Amanda on her various social sites: Amanda Ryan's social networks
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I must admit I have requested an invite to try. So far, it doesn’t seem anything out of this world, but it does seem a pretty feminine social website. I mean, there are really a lot of desserts, ornaments, dresses, shoes and other kind of feminine stuff there.
Thanks Tedel! At first I thought the same thing, but after being on it now for a month, I thoroughly enjoy it. Really appreciate your thoughts!