We’ve all been following the explosion of Pinterest and in some ways it’s not that surprising. There are two reasons I believe it has captured the hearts of those that use it.
- It’s dead simple
- It’s visual
It’s actually more amazing that something like Twitter took off. It’s all “texty and stuff”, as the youth say. (I believe that it did as well as it did because it was piggybacking on existing behavior, namely texting. And now we’re seeing the youth getting on board to escape their moms on Facebook.)
Visual is the nature of the Internet, not book-like. Yes, people do read online but the vast majority of the people use “it” more like an on demand TV/slideshow. If a picture is worth a thousand words, the Internet is worth trillions! This is the reason, services like Pinterest take off.  There are of course, other signs that the eyes have it.
Instagram – This mobile app focuses on sharing images and claims to be the largest mobile social network at 16 million (if you exclude mig33 Â at 50+ million). It was also recently valued at $500 million!! (Gotta love the new multiples!) You can comment and like but the purpose of the app is definitely in the sharing of images.
Infographics – Over the past 6 months I have seen, an explosion of infographics being shared on Twitter. If you search for any term on Google and follow it up with infographic (i.e. pinterest infographic) you will receive an amazing array of infographics.) These visual representations of data are a great way for right-brainers to get a grip on what’s going on. (Left brainers; back to Excel!)
theComplete.me – Queue the Jerry Maquire soundtrack please. They claim to be the first social dating network and you guessed it, the interface is very Pinterestesque.
Trippy – Love the name! Surprisingly, Trippy is not a place for people taking hallucinogens to the congregate. (I’m sure that would be wildly popular.) To put it simply, it’s the Pinterest of travel. People share images of where they have gone and where they would like to go. Too bad Dopplr didn’t so something like this.
Chill – Chill is the Pinterest of video. Enough said . . .
These are a few examples of utilizing the visual nature of the medium and I expect this to only increase in the post-PC era! All those tablets and smartphones in people’s laps on the couch! If you’re marketing a business, leave as much as the text out as you can. Start by tapping into the windows to the soul!
