Pinterest is Taking Over Social Media

This year has been about growth for Pinterest.  The platform started out as being “exclusive,” meaning you had to request to join.  Then, it seemed like the only people using Pinterest were young women, pinning pictures of clothing, food, and exercise ideas.  However, in 2013 Pinterest has made serious changes in order to grow as a social media platform and they seem to be working.

Announced in May, Pinterest partnered with several major brands, such as Target, ModCloth, and Sony, to include more descriptive pins in a new format.  These pins will now include information such as the pricing for products, or recipe descriptions that are directly on the pin, meaning users no longer have to switch back and forth between sites for information.  This is incredibly beneficial to brands because it gives them a stronger presence on the site.  Previously, users would find a pin, not know its source, click on the pictures and potentially be taken to a website that held no information about the product or picture.  Now, brands are more interactive on the pin, allowing users a chance to interact directly with the brand while on the Pinterest site.

An example of new pins on Pinterest.

In September, Pinterest announced their new article pins.  Before, when users pinned articles on Pinterest only the photo from the article with a link on the bottom were featured.  Now, the article title, author’s name, article description and a larger link will be on the pin.  The goal behind this was for users on Pinterest to pin more articles from news sources.

Even more recently Pinterest announced location pins, where users can create pinboards for specific cities, neighborhoods, and for mapping out travel plans.  The new feature allows users to “add a map” on a new board or existing board to add “Place Pins” to add the location of where a pin is from so other users can go directly to a restaurant or store where the product is.

I tried out the new location pins.

Pinterest has also been expanding overseas.  The company recently announced that they will be expanding into Scandinavian countries by adding language capabilities for Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Finland.  Pinterest already has French and UK capabilities, and they have offices in London, Paris, and Tokyo.

I have always thought that brands tend to overlook or misuse Pinterest and part of that isn’t their fault but rather had to do with faults on the site itself.  That being said, new descriptive pins with an emphasis on content sharing and growth to an overseas market show immense promise for the future of Pinterest.  In the past I thought there were some brands that would never be able to make it on Pinterest because they weren’t consumer based, but if Pinterest becomes a site that includes consumer products and news content sharing, it has the opportunity to be used by a much wider audience.  Rolling out these new capabilities shows that Pinterest has longevity and the ability to reach more than just one audience.  I’ll be interested to see what new growth they make in the future, but focusing on becoming a content sharing site will separate them from Facebook and Twitter, and make Pinterest a platform that everyone and every brand can use.

Check out my Vine exploring the new Pinterest features: https://vine.co/v/hUnjvUlQxTr

The Cost of Social Media

We use a number of social media platforms in our every day lives. Facebook for socializing, Twitter for news, Instagram for pictures (and now videos),Tumblr for whatever it is Tumblr is for.  And that’s just scratching the surface.  In my opinion, these platforms have blown up because they’re easy to use and most importantly they are free.  But how do they stay free?  And what does it cost users for these platforms to remain free?

Here's an example of an ad on Instagram.

Unfortunately, each of these social media platforms needs to make money in order to remain free to users, which leads us to advertising on social media.  Let’s be honest here, advertising on social media platforms is annoying, albeit a necessary evil.  Recently there has been tremendous growth in social media advertising.  Along with the announcement of its IPO, Twitter announced a new ad platform.  Then, Instagram announced advertisements.  Even Pinterest is getting in on the action.

A promotoed tweet on Twitter.

So what does this mean for the user?  Well for starters our experiences on these platforms is seriously about to change. I’ve already noticed a change on Twitter, although it’s inconsistent about when I have ads and then when I do have ads, they are usually not targeted to me.  Same goes for Facebook ads, which are consistently on my newsfeed but generally irrelevant to my life.

I don't have a dog....

I will happily have ads on all of my social media networks if it means I keep getting free access.  However, I firmly believe advertisers are under using this advertising opportunity.  Twitter has a vast amount of data about each of its users, based on profiles, who they follow and what they tweet about. It should be easy to target content towards certain people.  This is not the case.  I have never once seen an ad targeted towards me, which I personally find ridiculous because I have a public Twitter profile with an obvious bio.  On Facebook, I can be equally as easily targeted through pages I like, as well as based off of my bio. 

Why does it seem like an opportunity is being wasted?  In my opinion it is.  Social media is an amazing place for advertisers to target their core audiences.  I’m more likely to follow through on an ad that aligns with my interest, as opposed to an ad that has nothing to do with me and instead turns me off to that brand.  While interaction on social media between brand and consumer is extremely important, I also think that understanding advertising on social media is just as important.  Taking advantage of data provided by Twitter and Facebook about their users is already an invaluable too and will only continue to grow as social media becomes even more widely relied upon.

Check out my Vine about ads on social media: https://vine.co/v/hw7urAgBb5I