Pinterest – Everyone is trying to be on Pinerest

Pinterest, Pinterest, Pinterest – that is all I have been hearing about all week.  I have to admit that I am curious – one of the sites I work with has just set up a page and I have submitted my request for an invitation [still waiting].  I am hoping that this will not be an over-hyped social farce.  Then again, I am also think Facebook is an over-hyped social farce – so take this with a grain of salt.

My initial impression, when they first launched, was that this was a tween/youth based shopping waste of time.  One the that would be populated with people that I would not have any interest in common [limited budget, no interest in fashion or other youth oriented  marketing - yes I am out of the loop], but there has been a lot of press on the site lately and I think that there really may be something here:

• BusinessInsider.com – The Sign-Up Process
• Mashable.com – Changing the future of web design
• WSJ.com – Referral Rates beating Twitter & Google+
• Forbes - Pinterest’s Obvious Secret

But there are some questions being asked:

• Mashable - Is Pinterest Pocketing Revenue by Tracking User-Generated Pins?
• PCMag.com - Pinterest Use Soars Amidst Questions About Linking Tactics

I think there is no question that the design is superior, and possibly the concept, but I question the meteoric rise of any site.  Yes, Twitter was able to do it and Facebook – but with such a strong tie to commerce and possibly questionable practices [jury is still out on that one] I am not sure that this is really something to pay that much attention to.  Yes, I believe that it will have a fair amount of success, but I think it may fall as people get bored with it.

The big question will be whether or not news/blog sites can be pinned effectively to the site – there may be some real value there.

We will see – I will probably follow up with more once I actually get some access to the site.

[so much for instant gratification].