Why the interest in Pinterest?

If you're trying to plan your perfect wedding or build your dream home, chances are you'll be getting a lot of advice from your friends and family. Some are ideas you'll want to keep in mind and other you might never consider at all. But getting all your ideas in one place can be a bit of a pain.

Facebook pages tend to wean in interest after a while and email groups tend to become boring. Which is why Pinterest, a social networking site that was started in 2009, has so many users. Over 12 million, in fact. So what's all the fuss about Pinterest?

The user experience

Pinterest is basically an online scrapbook which lets you compile images according to subject. Recipes, home decorating, gardening, fashion, photography, DIY, you name it. Each individual scrapbook is called a ‘board'. You can have as many boards as you like on any topic of your choice

Like any other social networking site, Pinterest requires you to have a login ID and password to become a member of the site. And signing up still requires you to request an invite, although you'll usually get your mail within a couple of days of signing up.

Once you login to your account, you'll be given the option to add the ‘Pin It' button to your browser. The Pin It button allows you to ‘Pin' images of things you're interested in to a board of your choice. When another user clicks on the pinned image, it automatically redirects them to the site from which it was pinned, thus driving traffic to other Web sites. Pinterest can also be ‘linked' to your Facebook or Twitter profiles, so non-members can still see what you're pinning.

The beautiful, simple user interface has many takers, most of them women. Figures show that the ratio of women to men users on Pinterest is 60:40. By pinning their favourite recipes or ideas for kids, women have been able to develop a network of fellow pinners who share the same tastes.

Pinterest can also be used between friends or family as a platform for discussion. When you create a Pinterest board, you can choose an option that allows select or any Pinterest users to pin relevant ideas. Hence, planning a wedding or getting home decor ideas becomes easier because you have all your ideas in one place.

Helping businesses

Since the images on Pinterest link back to the site from where they were pinned, this results in a lot of publicity for many brands like Kate Spade New York, Whole Food Once a user pins an item, any other pinner can 'like' it, comment on it or repin it to their own profile. Celebrity pinners the likes of Oprah Winfrey and Mark Zuckerberg or popular pins see thousands of repins. Many Web sites and blogs have a Pinterest button embedded in their websites which allows users to directly pin content, without having to use the Pin it button. Pinterest's popularity makes it an ideal platform for small businesses to promote themselves by pinning images of the products they have on offer.

Copyright issues

While many businesses and individuals are profiting from the attention they get from Pinterest, there are many who have lodged complaints regarding copyright infringement. Although Pinterest does caution users to always credit the sources of their images, not everyone pays attention to this. However, it's businesses, not users who are likely to be accused of copyright infringement. A regular user who doesn't use Pinterest for commercial means isn't the prime target here. But businesses who use images from other companies or individuals and Pin it on their own boards are likely to be slapped with a lawsuit.

Pinterest is run by a small team which is unprepared for the kind of success they've seen. In fact, when eWorld contacted the team, they responded saying they were overwhelmed with the responses they were getting and would be unable to give us personal comments. As the number of users multiply, they will be forced to make amendments to their terms and conditions. And hopefully they won't face the same piracy charges that ruined Napster, because as of now, it's one of the most refreshing social networks out there.

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