March 19: Pinterest
John Battelle’s “Pinterest’s Third Way” is an article that argues that Pinterest is a digital platform that focuses on amplifying the ways it can be useful to a user on an individual level. Pinterest differentiates itself from Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook by, as Battelle so eloquently puts it, helping the user with “getting shit done. For yourself. As Silbermann told me in the interview below, it’s not about being entertained (Facebook), or getting an answer to a specific question (Google). People come to Pinterest with an itch to scratch, a task to be done” (Battelle). Valued at $12 billion and with more than 200 million users, Pinterest collects a lot of data that its users create every day. Along with aggregating data from this large user base, Pinterest also has the ability to potentially create large revenue streams from online advertisements. The company is aiming for a one billion dollar gross revenue.
One element of Pinterest that is fairly unheralded is the “Taste Graph.” Pinterest users platforms are curated by what they click on or save as they are using it. This data properly matches users with various ideas aligning with their tastes that are actionable. If you’re a baker, for instance, than you may be matched up with a new recipe for banana bread. This is what drives Pinterest overall: the encouragement of users to try new projects. Pinterest even added a “Tried It” button to encourage its users to share stories about their projects on the platform. Pinterest wants you to feel good about using its platform. The sense of accomplishment one feels after completing a project helps fuel the “feel-good” experience of Pinterest in a manner in which the toxic communities of Twitter and Facebook fail at doing. It works well, too. I’m not a usual user of Pinterest, so I had to sign up through my Facebook account today. But after only about twenty minutes spent browsing the site, I discovered a range of topics that I enjoy. My favorite was a collaboration between Timberland Boots and Adidas sneakers — I definitely appreciate that my interests are immediately accounted for, as someone who enjoys men’s fashion. This also showed the power of Pinterest in subliminal advertisements because it created a desire for Adidas brand shoes within me without putting me off by being overt. A close second was a drink recipe for a St. Paddy’s day style cocktail, which is very relevant considering I’m Irish and St. Paddy’s day is on deck tomorrow as I’m writing this piece. I’m going to try this drink tomorrow, and I’ll see if it creates a sense of achievement for me (UPDATE: It was good and properly boozy).
Battelle’s second half of his article is an interview with Pinterest CEO and co-founder Ben Silbermann. Silbermann claims that the purpose of Pinterest is “personal utility. People use it as a personal tool to get ideas to do things in their life.” (Battelle). Silbermann wants prospective users to depart from the idea that Pinterest is simply another way to communicate with other people like Facebook and Twitter. Instead, the platform should be viewed as a way of completing objective and tasks.
“For the average person, what we always think about is if you put up a Facebook or an Instagram picture and nobody likes it, it’s kind of weird, like you didn’t do it right. Whereas on Pinterest, if you put up something you want, or an outfit you want to try out, or a place you want to visit, you’re not waiting for people to respond to it to know whether or not you should have saved it to Pinterest. You’re saving it there for yourself.”
I think this is the key point of Pinterest that could really appeal to users. There is so much pressure to build likes or retweets, and that creates a toxic culture that can actually have an effect on your psychological well-being. The gamification of Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook- accumulating interactions akin to scoring points- is dangerous to a young person’s psyche; personally, I’ll delete a tweet or Instagram post if I believe it has not accumulated enough attention from other users. I know many other people who do the same. This is an important difference between Pinterest and the other aforementioned platforms because they all share the same target demographic: millennials in the United States. A key component in any business is differentiating your product or service so that it appeals to your target demographic in a unique way that offers a tangible value proposition. Pinterest’s value proposition is being the only digital platform that allows you to use it while avoiding the social pressures of promoting your post. Another unique value is that advertisers will be able to get exposure for their products to make consumers aware of their product in a non-traditional fashion. An example of this is the Adidas sneakers that I liked; I had no idea that Adidas and Timberland did a collaboration on a sneaker before using Pinterest, but now I kind of want it.
The question that remains for Pinterest is building ad revenue in the future, something that Silbermann feels confident his company can accomplish.
