Every second (or more) email I’ve gotten in the last 3 days has been from Pinterest, and at peak times, I can get over 20 re-pins and likes within a few minutes.
The face of blogging has changed—because of Pinterest, what might have been a bland post with mostly text has transformed in to a much more beautiful one. I am all for people adding more photos to their posts, and for that reason—I love how popular Pinterest has gotten.
Something that started out being “a neat idea, but kind of like Polyvore or other bookmarking sites” has turned in to the most talked about social media platform of the moment. As much as people like to talk about how much they don’t get Google + (or don’t understand why it would be useful), they seem to love, even become addicted, to Pinterest.
I know first hand about all the changes to Pinterest over the months (and year and a half), because I was lucky enough to join with San Francisco super-blogger SFGirlByBay in the launching of Pinterest. Here is my first board—from June 2010, as part of the ‘Pin It Forward’ launch, where bloggers pinned their favourite ‘what makes you think of home’ pins. Here is my edited post on Pin It Forward. (I edited it to include embeded photos from Pinterest, because when I switched to WordPress in September 2010 I moved where I stored my photos).
Pinterest has changed for the better
In the beginning, Pinterest was only somewhat useful. Sure, you could use the ‘pin it’ bookmarklet (same as you can now) to add photos to boards, and you could ‘like’ pins and even ‘re-pin’, but it was by invite only (same as now), with a very limited amount of invitations available to send. Now, I don’t believe that there’s a cap on the amount of people you can invite—so there are millions (?!) of users on Pinterest all pinning away. When it started, you had a pin board but you still had to download the photos to be able to add them to your blog.
The new embed feature makes it easy to find great photos on Pinterest to include on your blog—and the proper credit is already added when you embed it! So, Pinterest is no longer ‘just’ a scrapbook, but a great social media site where people (bloggers and non-bloggers alike) keep track of the cool stuff they find online, sharing their finds with their board followers and anyone looking at the site.
Where google friend connect (GFC) follow hops were the norm, lately I’ve seen a plethora of Pinterest follow hops pop up. Groups get together to pin pictures from bloggers’ posts, and sometimes add pins to a linky under a specific theme. This pinning behaviour has been great for traffic to blogs, and to shops where the coolest things are being sold. It used to be so hard to find (even in a Google age) great things to look at and think about purchasing. I am loving how easy it is to be sucked in to the Pinterest atmosphere and watch hours pass discover new sites, shops and blogs to pin stuff from support.
If you aren’t on Pinterest and would like to be, leave me a comment with your email address and I’ll send off an invitation.
I’m curious
What do you use Pinterest for? What are your thoughts on its sudden popularity?
Dawn says
Great post Tazim, I was a little late to the game with Pinterest. I needed a breather after transitioning to Google+ and finally understanding StumbleUpon. Actually, I only recently realized how to pronounce it as well.. for some reason I kept thinking it was pronounced "pint interest".. ha! It makes more sense now that I know and its rather clever!
It is so fun and addicting, over the past days I have been pinning up a storm 😉
My recent post Daily Hot Printable Coupon Round Up
tazimd says
Hi Dawn, thanks for the comment. Yes, it seems like there were so many things us bloggers needed to get on board with lately! It's funny, as I get more people re-pinning my pins I am more motivated to pin more. . .it's a horrible cycle…or a fun one, depending on how you look at it!
krystal says
I am not on Pinterest, but I like the idea of being able to use other people's images and have the source already embedded. There is just too many social networking sites to keep up with lately.
Rachel R. says
I've been hesitant to sign up for it just because I spend so much time online already, but I think I'm ready to take the leap.
Can you send an invite to rachelsgiveaways at gmail dot com?
Darcy says
I love it! When I need a break, I look through and repin and pin stuff… recipes I want to try, gorgeous cakes, party ideas… It's just so visual! I like to share some of my finds with readers and this makes it SO easy to do that.
Nikki says
Pinterest is so relaxing to me. It's funny, because I rebelled against it in the beginning, but once I got started, I was hooked. I enjoy pinning posts right before bed, it gives my mind time to unwind. I have a very difficult time falling asleep at night, so I really need a way to shut down my brain.
My recent post Book Review: Show and Tell-A Primer for Self-Publishers
Beeb Ashcroft says
I enjoy Pinterest for all the amazing crafts and recipes that I see popping up on there! One leads to another that leads to another and another…:)
My recent post Bertolli Meal Soup Challenge: Create an Elegant Meal to Remember – in 60 Minutes
renee says
i love pinterest – although I have to be careful what time I get on there! one pin can turn into hours of pinning 🙂
My recent post Simply Pin-tastic (A #Pinterest #Blog Hop : 1/27-1/30)
diane says
I am a big fan of pinterest! I love pinning my recipes in hopes that someone else will try them!
Leslie says
I'm a huge fan of pinterest, which I've discovered via the blogging world. I'm not sure exactly how it works but I'm ready to explore, and I would love if you would send me an invite at mizgmoss@yahoo.com.
Great post!
Nadia says
Excellent post! I like Pinterest as –
Its popularity is growing rapidly
It is the third most popular social network worldwide
It can encourage users to visit your website and make a purchase
It is becoming one of the strongest platforms to market visual content
It can help you quickly build a diversified link profile
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