The virtual world just gets more Pinteresting

From fashionable clothes, to scrumptious desserts; from the trendiest gadgets to the coolest cars; from amazing toys to elegant home decors, all these and more interesting items are on Pinterest's website.

No, it's not a new online store but the latest social networking site creating waves right now. The two-year-old website is currently the third largest social network in the US according to data intelligence firm Experian Hitwise.

Since its inclusion in Time Magazine's "50 Best Websites of 2011," Pinterest has started spreading like wildfire in social media space.

The social photo-sharing site allows its users to "pin" photos of their interests to a "board". Pins are images or any media content uploaded on Pinterest. Users can pin or upload photos from their computers or the internet, "like" or "comment" on pins uploaded by other members or "repin" (which is the equivalent of retweet in Twitter, and share in Facebook) photos from other user's pinboards. The whole process is the same with the other social networking sites, only Pinterest's founder and CEO Ben Silbermann thinks that the site is a means for people to continue or start their collections online. Pinterest is also being used to plan weddings, decorate homes, and organize favorite recipes.

Founder and CEO Ben Silbermann said in an interview that a collection says a lot about the collector. Pinboards, in a sense, can be viewed as sets of people's collections online. Through the things that people upload on their boards, we get an idea as to the kind of person behind them.A 

THOUSAND WORDS

"(Pinterest) allows users to say a lot using pictures," says PUP student Anabelle Alcomendas. She has been using Pinterest for a little over a month but is already hooked, spending at least two hours in the social networking site. Alcomendas thinks that part of Pinterest's success lies on its visual nature. "People are generally drawn towards images," she adds.

Alcomendas says the social networking site is also a search engine where people can "find resources related to their needs through the links attached to the images" posted on the website.

Meanwhile, Manuel Garcia of Technological University of the Philippines (TUP) maximizes his blog's social media presence through Pinterest.

"I use Pinterest in driving traffic to my blog. The total amount of traffic that Pinterest can bring to a blog is more than the combination of Google+, LinkedIn and Youtube," says Garcia.

Pinterest has over 20 million users, and with 2012 US Presidentiables' wives Ann Romney and Michelle Obama joining the site in March and June respectively, the figures are expected to grow more.



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