What is Pinterest and why should you care?

The latest platform to get the social media pundits all frothy and excitable is a site called Pinterest, which I imagine gets its name from the idea of it being a pinboard of interesting things. It’s best described as a more visual version of Twitter, allowing users to quickly and easily share stuff they find online with their network of followers.

Everything’s organised in a slightly more complex and interesting way than Twitter. You can follow individual users and be exposed to everything they share, or elect to only follow specific pinboards that they publish. For example, my interests are motorbikes, poker, cigars and Scotch whisky, so if you followed me you would get to see everything I share about those topics, but alternatively you could choose to follow just my poker pinboard if that’s the only interest we share.

Why does Pinterest matter? Because 1.5 million visitors a day, that’s why. This chart shows Google’s estimated traffic for the site over the past 12 months compared with, oh I don’t know, let’s say Digg just for example. Remember Digg?

Interesting, yes? So who’s using Pinterest? The vast majority of users are based in America, with only a very small international audience at present. The current user base is approximately 80% female, mostly aged 25 to 54, and mostly interested in handicrafts, homemaking, cookery/recipes and so forth (Source: Google AdPlanner). But the site is still very young, and as it expands into international markets the community it fosters could evolve and broaden into different areas.

The site is still technically in beta, so you have to request an invite and if they like the cut of your jib they’ll let you set up an account.

The million dollar question: what’s in it for brands? My colleague Amber Rinehard covered this in a recent post looking at Pinterest from a US perspective, but in short:

• You can add a “Pin It” button to any web-content you’d like people to share.
• You can create a Pinterest page for your brand, as AMD has for example.
• And, of course, you can use Pinterest as another channel to engage with audiences.

It pays to be a little sceptical whenever people are trumpeting the next big thing in social media, because hype alone does not make a success story, but to hit 1.5 million daily visitors in less than a year is extremely impressive and that should mark Pinterest out as something worth keeping an eye on.

Lance Concannon

I am the digital lead for Text 100 UK, working as part of the agency's global digital team. I help businesses make effective use of digital and social media in their PR and communications strategies to build better relationships with their audiences. I've worked with brands such as IBM, eBay, Sony Oracle, AMD and Diageo.

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