There is a new social media site that is fun to use and very different to the big 4 that we seem to spend most of our time on , Facebook, twitter, You Tube and Google +.
It’s Pinterest a scrapbook type site where users create “boards” and then “pin” items of interest, I created a site in a few minutes, set up a selection of boards and pinned some photos from my flickr account, the image on the left is from my “Life in Canada” board.
There is a bookmarklet tool that can be put in to the browser toolbar, it makes curating on the go very simple. Items of interest can be easily “pinned” to the users boards with a couple of clicks..
Similar to the way tumblr works, photos can be “re-pinned” from other boards and “liked”, comments can be added. Friends or boards can be followed.
It seems that Pinterest is becoming wildly popular. Suddenly it has caught the attention of men as well as women who were the primary users.
There is a waiting list but it should only be a day or two from applying to join to receiving an invitation. Just go to the site and ask to join.
One word of caution though. The Pinterest app is integrated into Facebook’s new timeline function. Going through the sign up procedure for Pinterest it is very easy to miss the warning that proceeding with the authorisation will enable the timeline on the users Facebook page. In my usual haste, I missed the warning and was disturbed to see that my Facebook page had changed to the timeline format which I absolutely detest. Once the timeline has been enabled, there is no going back it is a permanent change.
So be warned and proceed slowly.
Does Pinterest have a wider business application? Yes, handled tastefully, it is another medium to connect with hundreds of potential customers, I would imagine it will be popular with the fashion industry, electronic gadgets that rely on visual appeal, in fact any product that is visually differentiated. I remember a truck tyre retailer telling me that more pickup (and perhaps car) tyres are sold because of the appearance of the tread design than for the road holding, traction or safety factors.
Used carefully it could be like an ever-changing electronic shop window with potentially millions of passers-by, the trick is going to be to get them to look in the window long enough to create desire and then take action.
Wishing you success in all your endeavours.
Thanks for the note that it forces you to go with Timeline. I have been avoiding that and I almost did Pinterest until I read this.
Glad I could help, but I understand that all users will be changed to the timeline format soon.