Pinterest is the new digital scrapbooking
In December 2011 Pinterest became one of the 10 largest social network services, according to Hitwise data, with 11 million total visits per week. The next month, it drove more referral traffic to retailers than LinkedIn, YouTube, and Google+. In February, Tech Crunch also named it the new startup of 2011. (Pinterest.com)
Pinterest is a virtual pinboard that allows its users to unleash all their pent-up creativity, collect photos and videos of places and things they normally could only dream of and organize their future goals with the use of multimedia found on the Internet.
The website became available to the public as a invitation-only open beta in March 2010.
According to techcrunch.com, Pinterest has over 10.4 million registered users, 9 million monthly Facebook-connected users and 2 million daily Facebook users. Techcrunch.com also wrote that over 97 percent of Pinterest’s users are women.
The main goal of their website is to find interesting things for people around the globe to share on their virtual pinboard. It’s easy to share beautiful photos of “interesting things.” To post a photo on Pinterest is called a “pin.”
Trending pins are fashion, art, food, and interior design. Although it might seem narrow-minded to say Pinterest is blatantly aimed at the female population, this is not the website’s fault.
After all, the user decides how they want to apply the website to their lives. And with things like photos of the latest fashion and cute throw pillows, it’s no surprise people assume.
One of the growing benefits of Pinterest is blogs are getting far more traffic than they used to. People will look for the photo they want, and can often find it on a blog. Pinterest is a great opportunity to take advantage of, especially if one wants to promote their writing or photography.
The website is also an efficient organizer. Imagine if instead of having to make a complicated list and to decide on very important choices based on an image only in our thoughts, it could be planned out visually on a pinboard-that’s what Pinterest excels in. It allows people who are visual learners to organize their book clubs, companies, fundraisers, photography, recipes and much more.
It’s no surprise that Pinterest has become like a visual board for people. They see delicious food on the Internet so they make a pinboard with photos of food on it. Someone sees a cute photo of a Victorian-themed room, so they make a pinboard of interior design. It’s so simple and to the point. It’s brilliant. After all, before Pinterest existed people were still scrapbooking. It’s the same thing, just now it no longer requires glue sticks and an album book.
Also, people who join Pinterest tend to be artistic, which you can observe as a Pinterest user. It’s a website of art, imagination and creativity- but it’s also a website of wishes. People are always wishing and wanting more than they have. We always want to feel complete, and sometimes it seems easier to satisfy our wants with clothes, food and products.
So maybe Pinterest is really just cure for shopaholics? Doubt it, but it would probably work. Whether Pinterest be crowded with fashionistas, designers or people planning their future company, it will be interesting to see what’s trending.