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2/21/12

Pinterest - The Devolving of Social Media

Remember 10 years ago, when Myspace was the coolest new thing? Everyone wanted to be a part of "Tom's" network, and all the popular kids had a myspace page.

You could design your own layout.  Have a playlist of your favorite songs.  Make a bio/online resume, including pictures, words, videos, and more.

Then, as business started to notice, saying "we should probably market to this," myspace died.

What killed myspace?  Facebook.

Facebook offered a 'cleaner' interface.  Simply put, you can't design your own layout anymore.  You can't have music playing on your profile.  You post status updates, pictures, videos and links.  It was a dumbed-down version of myspace, and people LOVED it.

Simplification rules.  So how do you simplify Facebook?  Twitter.  It's facebook in 140 characters or less, and designed for mobility.

But... words are overrated, right?  Let's cut those out.  Enter Pinterest.

Pinterest is 'the next big thing,' especially with women.  You pin pictures you like (recipes, fashion, quotes, as long as they're in an image file) and you share with your friends.  For example, my ex wife is newly engaged and is planning a wedding.  She pins decorations, cakes, dresses, etc she likes, and her friends go "DAWWWWWW..."

That's pinterest in a nutshell.

And businesses are trying to find ways to capitalize.

As a blogger, my blog's continued success involves 'staying current with the times' and using social media trends help fuel blog traffic.  But pinterest?  It doesn't quite work for me.

You see, pinterest is for pictures, and this blog is more than pictures.  If I showed cute lolcat images or talked about skinny jeans on fat dudes, I'd have relevant pictures to pin.  My focus is more on the words instead of the pictures, and not the other way around.

Twitter?  I use it.  Stumbleupon?  Great for traffic.  But pinterest?  Sorry.  Not for me, not for my blog.  I only have one thing to say to pinterest:


Businesses who can use images and pinterest to their advantage may have found a great new marketing tool.  For those of us who use words, humor, sarcasm and wit, pictures DO say a thousand words, but not always in the right way.

33 comments:

  1. A Daft Scots Lass2/21/12, 3:38 AM

    I must say I did get suck in to pin

    ReplyDelete
  2. Workingdan2/21/12, 5:08 AM

    I can't even keep up with the social sites I already use...I don't think I need to add another.

    Plus it seems that pinterest is of no use to me because as you said, I need the use of words!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Pickleope2/21/12, 5:37 AM

    Isn't Pinterest just Tumblr without all the porn? I can see the appeal, but no more social media! There's too many time-sucks as it is.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Haven2/21/12, 6:12 AM

    I'm still not quite sure how to use StumbleUpon.

    So where does Tumblr fall into this? I think it's like that middle ground that can be a blog but can just post pictures, but you can't really search anything. I can't deal with Pinterest. It's like scrapbooking without any of the OCD.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous2/21/12, 6:41 AM

    I like the pic you would post... very expressive.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Leanna2/21/12, 7:54 AM

    I'm ashamed to say that I am a Pinterest Pinhead. Yes, *sigh* and I have been known to spend days on that site.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Simple Musings2/21/12, 8:02 AM

    I'm a pinner. I'd pin all day if I could. Before I knew what happened I lost 2 hours of my Sunday pinning random crap into random categories. Will I ever actually use any of it? More than likely not. Why do I do it? Because it numbs my brain and before I know it I'm a drooling pinning mess.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Just Keepin It Real, Folks!2/21/12, 8:25 AM

    Amen dude.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Raquel's World2/21/12, 8:58 AM

    I don't really get it either. Everyone is raving about it but to me it's just boring. While I care that you have been sick for three days I could care less whet people think of a pair of jeans?? Although I have not exactly been to pinterest. Maybe I'll give it a go because I can remember saying the same thing about facebook before I joined and became addicted.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Lady Estrogen2/21/12, 9:21 AM

    I'm never going there. I have enough bullshit to dish through. Like I want to PURPOSELY search through the internet to find crap images that I like. Whatevs.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Pish Posh2/21/12, 9:32 AM

    I think people should relax about Pinterest. It's not taking away from blogging. It's just a muted conversation between people, some of whom also blog. It's like flipping through a magazine that isn't worth reading but has great images. Images aren't dumb or the antithesis to reading. It isn't television. It's often an image that gives one pause, and leads to inspiration. And then come the words.

    Anyway I read and write all day and I love it. Every once in a while I like to look at images of art, dramatic photography, stories in photos, get inspired for domestic things like cooking and gardening and decor. And then I read and write. It isn't dumbing down anything. I think it is just getting a bad rep because it mostly appeals to women and things that appeal to women often get a bad rep just because.

    I think Facebook is a less individualized but not dumbed down version of myspace. It is simply quieter and less musical, more inclined to appeal to the educated.
    Great post today! :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous2/21/12, 9:36 AM

    I'm a pinner but I use it for me. To keep track of DIY ideas I want to try, recipes that look good, makeup techniques, house decor, etc. that I like.

    I don't really see the pinning and blog worlds mixing... unless you're exclusively a photoblogger.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Youngman Brown2/21/12, 10:14 AM

    Could not agree with you more. I think I am okay with not having to keep up with one more social media craze, though. It is hard enough staying up to date with everyone's Facebook and Twitter accounts, let alone their actual blogs!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Julie Ferguson2/21/12, 10:27 AM

    I can barely keep up with FB, twitter, tumblr, Etsy, and my blogs. I cannot see adding more. It looks like I won't be pinning anything for the time being.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Bart2/21/12, 10:45 AM

    i dunno, myspace was always kinda shitty. but it did get me laid by a random. facebook is only good for lurking.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Hey Monkey Butt2/21/12, 11:52 AM

    I've been there, done that on all of those. lolz. I dropped Myspace, because I'd found facebook and well it seemed like less of a booty call and teeny bopper hang out to me. Just me and my old friends, lolz. Plus it was easier to keep in touch and see what was going on... I guess. ::shrugs:: I don't get pinterest much, I do it though. twitter is just a forgotten thing for me most of the time and then there is stumblr. Still working on that one, I think I just have too much on my plate, lolz. I love my blogging though.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Mooner In The Perti Dish2/21/12, 12:33 PM

    Brandini. What... in the fuck... are you talking about?

    ReplyDelete
  18. The Spaghetti Westerner2/21/12, 12:57 PM

    Pinterest has been one of the top five (usually the top two) referring sites to my blog for weeks now. I love it!

    I admit that it has made me far more aware of the power of photos in blogging, not to replace text and humor and wit, but as an alternative way to express yourself.

    ReplyDelete
  19. P.J.2/21/12, 1:06 PM

    I have a Pintrest page and have no freakin' clue how it works. And I keep getting notifications that people are following my "boards," despite the fact that there's nothing on them.

    I don't get it and will probably not be pinning anything, being I have no idea how it works!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Suniverse2/21/12, 1:23 PM

    I still have no idea what the fuss is about re: Pinterest. Mostly because if I have to look at too many pictures of things I start to glaze over. Also, people's interests are generally not that interesting to me. Also, I am a curmudgeon.

    ReplyDelete
  21. G2/21/12, 3:51 PM

    Jeez I have no hope in keeping up with all these new social trends...I'd never heard of this...

    ReplyDelete
  22. Unknown2/21/12, 3:57 PM

    Pinterest is the newest thing. My gf and mom love it!

    ReplyDelete
  23. Nicky2/21/12, 6:45 PM

    I have a Pinterest account and haven't pinned a single thing, yet somehow people are following my non-existant pins. Honestly, looking at all those boards makes my eyes bleed.

    ReplyDelete
  24. The Reckmonster2/21/12, 7:25 PM

    I'm a "non-committed" Pinner. It's like, "Yeah, I've got Pinterest. Yeah, it's cool. But I only smoke it like once or twice a month. I'm totally not addicted."

    I hate FB, but find it a necessary evil in my life right now. It's pretty much how I keep up with mah peeps (without needing to actually fucking TALK to them - bc some of them, God love 'em - but they could talk your ears off for 73 hours if you call for a simple, "howzit goin?"). I don't do any of those Tumbler or Stumbling things...and as you well know, I'm on hiatus for a while from mah blog too.

    I wouldn't say that Pinterest is gonna blow much up in the social media circuit. It's the "it" thing - for right now. And since we, as a society, have ADHD...that oughta last about ten more minutes.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Leon Kennedy2/21/12, 8:36 PM

    guys have sites like that too... I think they're called "porn sites"

    ReplyDelete
  26. Zyu2/21/12, 11:26 PM

    And 10 years from now, Facebook will probably be dead.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Melanie2/21/12, 11:50 PM

    I took a look at pinterest ONCE. Now, mind you, with the content of my blog, I could probably go hog wild, however, it didn't capture my attention and I haven't been back since. Don't think I will. Due to circumstances beyond my control I had to recently take my facebook down (which saddens me because I got premium Reckmonster contact there) and by the time I will be able to get back to it, its totally possible it will have gone the way of myspace. I am just gonna keep it real with my blog, until I get around to building that website.

    ReplyDelete
  28. ♥●• İzdihër •●♥2/22/12, 1:35 AM

    I did not know about pinner thing.
    It is not famous here yet .

    ReplyDelete
  29. Amy2/22/12, 5:03 AM

    It makes me sad I have to keep posts around 700 words max or people just won't read them.

    That's what you were posting about, right? Sorry. I got about 400 words in and stopped reading...

    ReplyDelete
  30. Shutterbug2/22/12, 3:38 PM

    pinterest is the next big thing and i love pictures... i should get on the bandwagon!

    ReplyDelete
  31. JanandJill.com2/23/12, 10:35 AM

    haha, I loved reading this post because bloggers have to be so involved with social media and the 'next big thing.' From myspace losing to facebook and twitter's appealing simplicity and now pinterest. I'm on it, but definitely don't get sucked into pinning for more than 10 minutes. I totally see what you mean why it wouldn't be the most useful for bloggers who write. :) And what's next in social media? What could get more simple than pinterest and if they start to monetize it, will it go down the tubes like myspace? Time will tell...

    Nice post
    ~Dale

    ReplyDelete
  32. Cat2/23/12, 12:00 PM

    I'm a pinner when I can, I like the DIY stuff, I have used a few of the recipes that I found on there and also have followed a few new blogs thanks to being a pinhead. I like that I can pin ideas for later use or inspiration and I hope that I can incorporate pinterest into my blogging or crafting to promote myself when I can get the strength to get on that ball.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Anonymous4/12/12, 10:28 PM

    You either use a specific social media site or you don't. Why do we have to read about everyone's preferences? It's a pretty boring blog topic...

    ReplyDelete

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