Wednesday 14 March 2012

Pinterest- A passing fad or here to stay?

It started with MySpace and Bebo. Facebook then arrived. Twitter flew in, followed by various other social media sites. Nonetheless, Pinterest seems to be the new form of social media that is grabbing people's interests, literally.


So what is Pinterest? Put simply, it is a online series of pin boards. You can virtually pin your favourite photos or videos to categorised pin boards. For instance, say you like a film that you've just seen, you can search for a photo or video of it online and using the special pin it button,  put it on your board. You can also add a caption to it to help describe to other pinners what it is. Arguably, it is like a picture/video version of Twitter, people can repin, like and comment on your pins. It is really easy to do and simple to navigate. Here is a picture of my Pinterest below:

You can then follow other people's boards, looking at their pictures. You might see a recipe you like, a film you want to see or a book you've never heard of but now want to read. The visual aspect is very good and incredibly addictive. Nonetheless, I've had Pinterest for a while now and at first it was like playing with a new toy, pinning everything in sight. Now I don't pin as much but still use it, to use a cliché, a picture tells a thousand words, and thus it is very eye catching, spending ages scrolling looking at all the different pins.


A new side to Pinterest allows you to "Pin A Quote", highlighting any text on the internet you like the look of and it turns it into an image for your pin board. This is a great function as it allows you to see some of the best quotes from everyone using Pinterest. Like Twitter has trends, Pinterest has popular pins and of course there is a smartphone app. Is it another way for businesses to interact with consumers? Perhaps it could be. New products could be pinned. Companies could pin their new advertising campaigns. For instance, Universal have been pinning scenes from their hit movies, reminding people like me to watch films or buy products. 


Arguably, it is Twitter for pictures but it is easy to use and you do see so many pictures that make you laugh, offer helpful advice, leave you in awe and inspire you to watch a film or pick up a book. Surely, these are not bad things, its a tool to show people what makes you happy? For businesses to visually show their products and campaigns. Whether it is will stay only time will tell but for now I'm having great fun pinning and viewing all the photos, videos and quotes from around world.

No comments:

Post a Comment