Have you heard of Pinterest yet? If not, you will soon! This social cataloging site is quickly breaking into the social media world allowing users to bookmark and share a collection of people, places and things they love. I stumbled upon it after clicking on a friend’s link and quickly found myself trying to get into the invite-only (for now) site.
So what’s all the fuss about? Pinterest allows you to “pin” items to categorized pinboards that you can share with your social network. The site was founded in 2010 by Ben Silbermann and Paul Sciarra in San Francisco and is currently receiving millions of new pins each week. So what are all of these people “pinning?” Their blog encourages users to “organize and share things they find beautiful on the web” and gives examples of users using the site to plan weddings, organize recipes or just to save items that inspire them.
So why is Pinterest the next big thing? Let’s think back to Instagram and the number one reason why it’s a success: simplicity. Users can take a picture, upload it and pick a filter in just a minute which is much faster (and affordable!) than using a photo-editing program like Photoshop. Pinterest saves your favorite things just by clicking on a toolbar button, writing a quick caption, and clicking Pin This and posting it to your pinboard. The source link is automatically hyperlinked into the photo so viewers can find the original article or photo upon clicking on it.
Ready to start pinning? Click here to put your name on a waiting list (I only had to wait an hour or so) or message me on Twitter at @aecarter to get one of my invites!
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