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| A newcomer in the social network field, Pinterest has made itself popular among female American Internet users. (JG Photo) |
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Oakland.
Christine Martinez spent the past week frolicking on the Caribbean island of
St. Barth after becoming a star by sharing her sense of style at
Pinterest.
Pinterest
has become the Web's hottest young website, particularly among women, by giving
people virtual bulletin boards that they decorate with pictures showcasing
interests in anything from food to sports, fashion or travel.
"Gawd
I love Pinterest," fashion blogger Martinez said in a Twitter message
fired off between flights on Friday as she made her way back to her home in the
California city of Oakland.
Nearly a
million people have signed up to follow Martinez at Pinterest where people
"pin" pictures they have taken or, in most cases, plucked from
elsewhere on the Internet.
"I
have a penchant for pretty," Martinez said in her Pinterest profile, which
had a picture of her with her cherished dog 'Miles.' As of Saturday, she had 43
Pinterest boards with more than 5,700 images reflecting her taste in jewelry,
swimsuits, and more.
Pinterest
is such an influential fashion venue that chic beachwear label Calypso St.
Barth brought her to the French island territory for a week to "live
pin" the label's swimsuit photo shoot.
"Pinterest
is the latest procrastination tool of the masses," Avery Spofford of
fashion website shefinds.com wrote in an online post citing Martinez's
adventure as evidence of Pinterest's clout.
"Mostly,
people just like to look at photos of puppies and cake and interior
design," Spofford continued. "Us, too!"
Pinterest
was launched in early 2010 and has growing at a dizzying rate in the past six
months despite being invitation-only. The website reportedly has more than 13
million users.
Pinterest
is driving more online traffic to retail websites than social networks
LinkedIn, YouTube and Google+ combined, according to a January report from
Shareaholic.
"Pinterest's
traffic charts aren't hockey sticks -- they're rocket ships," Internet
tracker RJ Metrics said in an analysis released last month. "Pinterest is
the hottest young site on the Internet."
Brands are
leaping onto Pinterest, setting up pages to appeal to prime shopping
demographics or forming collaborations such as the one between Martinez's
MilestoStyle.com blog and Calypso.
"The
amount of free advertising a brand gets on Pinterest is ridiculous,"
blogger Kerry Sauriol wrote at WomenInBizNetwork.com.
"Without
even having their own Pinterest boards, clothing companies, furniture
designers, tech companies, and on and on have their products pinned and
adored," she continued. "Think of the marketing power of a brand that
does have a board."
Other
websites have begun adding "pin it" buttons inviting visitors to
decorate Pinterest pages with images using a single click, according to
co-founder Ben Silbermann.
"The
last few months have been a whirlwind here at Pinterest," Silbermann said
in a recent blog post. "It's humbling, and exciting."
The small
Pinterest team works in box of an office in single-story building in downtown
Palo Alto in Silicon Valley. About a dozen engineers were working at rows of
desks in an undecorated room when an AFP correspondent visited. Pinterest said
it was too swamped with attention from users and media for interviews.
Rampant
pinning of images snagged from the Internet has raised concerns about copyright
violations at Pinterest. The website follows procedures set out in US copyright
law and has a form at the site for reporting violations, Silbermann explained.
Each "pin" has a flag icon for marking pirated content.
"We
care about respecting the rights of copyright holders," Silbermann said.
"Copyright is a complicated and nuanced issue and we have knowledgeable
people who are providing lots of guidance."
Pinterest
fans include Dave Morin, a longtime member of the Facebook team who left the
leading social network to start Path. Morin sees Pinterest as part of a trend
for people in "the world's biggest club" Facebook to form sub-groups
based on interests or close relationships.
"Now
that the world understands how to be social through the Internet people want
unique experiences in different contexts," Morin said, noting that Path
lets people intimately share with family and close friends.
"Pinterest
has a space where you can talk about your deep interests," he continued.
"In my case, deep interests in ski gear or photography gear."
Agence France-Presse
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