I am a bloke. I don’t really care about the latest Spring skirt fashion or how to plait someone’s hair. But Pinterest, launched in 2010, has collected a 10 million strong user-base of people who do. It’s got to the point now where I can’t avoid it; from an advertising and marketing perspective the site’s predicted monetization is rather attractive. Recently it was reported by VentureBeat that numbers around the $500 million mark are stirring.
The concept of a ‘pinboard’ behind consumers is intriguing for the marketing industry. After all, the stuff you pin is all stuff you can buy. So what you would get is a board that provides the most delicate demographics possible; people promoting stuff from giants like Amazon and eBay but also pinning things – goods from shops, small businesses – local to them. And it’s not transient, either. Pins can be aspirational: what you wish you could buy, which could provide a rather interesting way of predicting trends.
I’m not saying that the future of market forecast in 2012 lies in stalking Pinterest, but I think there is certainly a scope for exploring a site that exposes future desires alongside present ownership. In terms of usability, a person’s context for using Pinterest doesn’t extend beyond fun and organisation. I reckon this means consumers are going to be more honest on the site – you don’t feel like you’re addressing the masses, like on Twitter.
Davenport Face 