January 25, 2012

Pinterest: Fad or Forever?

The girls at work are always talking about Pinterest. When I come home and get online I see lots of chatter about Pinterest. Is this new social network, where you pin interesting pictures just a fad? Pinned pictures can be things you just like, are interested in, get ideas from, or even a message. When you pin the picture the image with the original link is shared with all the people who follow you on Pinterest.

Since I work at a tile design center, I made the suggestion that all the girls (I work with all girls), start a Pinterest account. Each girl should pin their own tile designs and also pin other designs. By pinning others designs they can get inspiring ideas. By pinning their own designs they not only give others inspiration they also market themselves as a tile designer along with their beautiful work.

The sky is the limit on how you utilize Pinterest. Another girl at work uses Pinterest to store wedding ideas. I use Pinterest to collect DIY ideas, interior designs, show off shoes I like, and share creative technology. I know other bloggers who use Pinterest to primarily promote their blog. This is does by pinning their posts in Pinterest with the goal of having their followers either click the link or repin so their followers will click the link.

There is an old saying that pictures are worth a thousand words. Pinterest is holding that saying up. Just by viewing a users pin boards you can easily see their likes and interests. If you haven’t yet started your Pinterest account, you should, it gets quite addictive.

Do you thing Pinterest is a fad or that it will stick around for quite a while?

Jessica Benton (1444 Posts)

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog post. It means the world to me. I hope you will join in the conversation and leave a comment below.

« Join Me: Protest to Stop SOPA & PIPA

Finding The Perfect Movie, With Your iPhone »

From Shopping to Saving

I love Pinterest and think it will stick around. I go through phases such as going on pinning sprees, but sometimes I lay off of it for awhile. I always come back to it though and since I have pinned a lot on there – I always come back looking for that one thing I pinned.

Love pinterest!
Kiersten

That Tech Chick,

We love your posts over at Digitwirl. Full of awesome tips- our subscribers would love your blog!

Kiersten
– – – –
Digitwirl: Making Tech Work for You
Nik

Hi Jessica,

Visual platforms are some of the easiest to use so it is very likely it will stick around for a long time. However with everything if it gets swamped by marketers or the owners chase the money rather then satisfying the users it might life a short life!

Nik
Mitchell Allen

Hi Jessica,

I found your blog via my good friend, Mitch Mitchell, who featured you on Black Web Friday. Besides shouting out to a tech sistah, I wanted to add my seven cents to the Pinterest conversation.

I believe it will be than a fad but less than forever. It’s more than a fad because of the popularity of visual media. Everyone is doing SOMETHING with pictures, even if it’s just sharing cell-phone shots to Google+.

It’s less than forever because of the entrenchment of sites like Flickr and Tumblr. Unless and until Pinterest comes up with a killer feature, it will be just another node on the Social Graph. Even at that, it duplicates G+ and Facebook, although it does make it a bit easier with the Pin It button.

To me, it’s like a stripped down Amplify…

As for the fears about marketers coming in and ruining things – I think that’s unfounded, given that we have the ability to follow our own group of Pinners. That said, the practice of adding a price to a pin might make searches less than satisfying. 🙂

One barometer for the future of a new service – besides buzz – is how long it takes for the “experts” to start writing tutorials for marketers. Whether that future is full of Unicorns or wild boars, remains to be seen. (For the record, I’ve already seen a handful of posts telling bloggers how to promote themselves on Pinterest.)

Cheers,

Mitch
Pingback: Black Web Friday – 2/17/12 | I'm Just Sharing()
Tricia Meyer

I am really anxious to see what happens with Pinterest once it comes out of Beta. I think the whole “invite only” thing has made it even bigger than it would have been. I am also wondering what will happen once it starts disclosing more how it makes money through affiliate marketing and even more brands and marketers start polluting it. So many variables!
- Judy
  
  Tricia, I think you’re right on the money! Everybody wants in if seats are limited, so the invite only strategy worked pretty well. There’s also a lot on the internet already on “how to game the Pinterest system”, so much like FB & Twitter there will be a flooding of marketeers who will pollute the system in their “efforts”. But I think the creators also know this and will hopefully have this covered. Personally I like Pinterest and hope it will stick around for a long time!
Shawanda @ You Have More Than You Think

I think Pinterest has staying power. It’s just too awesome not to. If a blogger, advertiser, etc. wants to target women, they need to figure out how to reach Pinterest users. I just started using the social network about a month or so ago, and I’m hooked. I really have to monitor how much time I spend on the site, because hours can pass and I’m still scrolling and searching for more ideas.
The Nerdy Nurse

It’s not as simple as I would like it to be.

I use stumbleupon for the same purpose, and I like it better. Although, it seems more manly to me,.

Maybe pinterest is just too girly for me. lol.
savvybrown

Personally. I can’t live without it right now. Not only does it help me sort ideas for my own projects, but he fact that I can instantly clip code and add specific ideas to my blog, makes it an invaluable resource for driving more traffic to my site. Plus. It’s FUN. I think I’m missing entire days of my life as a result of trolling around on pinterest.
Sheena

If it gets overrun with ads or brands trying to get in and pin their mainstream products, then I may sadly have to flee. Pinterest runs my life right now, lol. I’d be highly upset if it takes a turn for the worse.
mike@web design SEO

I would lean more towards forever… It’s nothing new scrap booking has been around forever. I’m interested what happens when there is more marketing efforts involved. Funny that it seems the people that complain about how much time is being wasted tweeting and in FB are the ones more involved in Pinterest and to me it seems to be a much bigger time suck..
Cindi @ Moomettes Magnificents

I use Pinterest primarily to pin recipes, home decor & DIY ideas. Doesn’t matter to me if the ideas are from blogs or things I’ve seen in the ‘net. I would hate to see brands come on board pimping their wares, using ut as an advertising medium and spoiling the experience for everyone.
Melanie

I think Pinterest will stay around but they will have to introduce advertising to make it continue. It can’t be free forever. I also wonder if it will just turn into another FB situation, where people starting “pinning” things simply for contests entries or other promotional benefits and not for the intended purpose.

For now, I love it. We will see when it is filled with large corporate stuff.
Robin Cannon

I’m a big fan of Pinterest conceptually, and slowly starting to use it more. There was a great article over at Design Shack yesterday as to why Pinterest, which isn’t in itself a completely new idea, has been so successful by providing a great user experience.

It took me a while to see the benefits of Pinterest beyond merely casual usage, but I’m starting to see more pieces from people using it from a business perspective. Posting tile designs, as you suggest, is a good example. It’s also great for companies looking to really develop a strong visual brand image.
lisa

I think it will stick around – it is an easy platform to use and I’ve read that those that do not use other platforms use Pinterest. And it’s not just for the young. I started 2 weeks ago on Pinterest and really love it!

Related posts: