What do you think of the “Pinterest fest”?

You have probably heard about Pinterest, the new hype on the internet, or more precisely in the Social Networks restricted area. The concept is simple, you pin stuff (mainly images/photos) of things you like/see when you browse the web. It can be a picture of the last ferrari, a photo of your favorite dessert, or just a pair of trainers you would like to buy. It’s very visual then and offer a very easy and friendly interface. So what’s the point of Pinterest?

I joined the Pinterest fest something like a month ago, just to see how it looks. Firstly I heard that Pinterest was hugely popular with the women in the US (90% of users) although in the UK it’s 50-50. A month later, I’m going on Pinterest at least once a day, mainly always looking after the same interests including Motors, Food, Photography, Bikes and Clothes. Today I’ve got 25 followers and I follow 10 people. To be honest this is not something I really promote on my other social networks accounts (facebook, twitter). Pinterest is still not in my habits like facebook or twitter.

Why is it becoming so popular?

As if the growing of Pinterest is now less quick compared to couple of months back, with more than 4 million uniques a day and more than 2 billion of impressions a month, Pinterest is there, and it’s cool to be on Pinterest apparently. The infographic below (via) also shows that Pinterest is mostly used by higher average incomes, and their first advertising strategies are based on model making more money (revenue per click) than facebook or twitter. Finally Pinterest is a strong referral, mostly for e-retailers. You can explain this simply, girls are the leading voice on Pinterest and they pin a lot of fashion related stuff. Those pins are usually driving other pinners through retailers.

So why shall I use Pinterest?

This my main question though. Why Shall I still continue to use it? Ok it’s nice, it looks good, but what else? Shall I create a “board” (list) of clothes I very like thinking that maybe my mum or my girlfriend will look at it to find inspiration for my birthday present? I doubt that my mum will go on Pinterest… Oh I can still use Pinterest to “discover” stuff but like Stumble Upon (that I very like by the way), Pinterest will become just another time waster… Finally, if I’m very interested about a topic/interest, shall I just not read a blog/website dealing with my favourite topic?

In my opinion, Pinterest is just another good looking time waster. Meanwhile I still don’t plan to leave it because it’s my pleasure at work to check amazing pictures of food. But also because it gives a better taste, a better taste of what other people dig. Voyeur? Yes probably but is that not what social networks are all about nowadays?

Are you on Pinterest? What’s your opinion about it? You can follow me here.

Via http://mashable.com/2012/04/29/pinterest-interest/