Pin your interest on Pinterest

There are lots of social networks that come and go without the average Joe even batting an eyelid, but there is one in the vast digital frontier that is bound to pin down your interest.

Taken out of beta (testing) only 10 months ago, Pinterest has grown from strength to strength (Unique visitors increased by 429 percent in two months!). It is described as a ‘vision board-styled photo sharing website where users can create and manage theme-based image collections’.

Now we’ve all heard of an image sharing social networks before such as Flickr but Pinterest has segregated itself from the rest.

For starters Pinterest requires you to register your interest before you’re allowed to join, and all you have to do is to look at the initial interest generated by Google+ to see that Pinterest has the right formula.

After registering you are bound to feel slightly overwhelmed. You’re immediately presented with an abundance of images with 33 categories to choose from, and as the same as Twitter, the terminology seems alien.

Then again, that’s what is just so good about Pinterest. There are such a variety of images that it’s impossible to get bored and in a similar fashion to Retweeting, Pinterest gives users the option to ‘Repin’ onto their own custom boards.

Of course depending on how interesting your choice of photos in your board and the regularity of updates, people that are also interested can follow your board.

Wait a minute that’s only the picture section. Pinterest also allows people to ‘Repin’ Videos and Gifts.

Gifts are a simple concept where ‘Pins’ are given a price taken from the description. This is simply another form of a wishlist where people can directly link to the items that they desire.

Some big brands such as Martha Stewart, Better Homes & Gardens and the Travel Channel have already started creating a powerful presence that lets users repost or ‘Repin’ to their followers. With links to individual products and clear online branding, Pinterest is certainly one to watch.

Do you use Pinterest? What are your thoughts so far?