I’ve been roaming around Pinterest for a while now and I’m very keen on discovering its potential, since it is really becoming the next big thing in the social environment we all live in. The team behind this start-up has really developed a product with deep insight into the media consumption habits of today’s internet users, which is why it’s catching on so fast. They are certainly keeping up with the development of the platform, since new details and features are added almost daily.

What I like about Pinterest is its simplicity, its design and it’s user experience. Everything is intuitive and clear. No big words, nothing too flashy, no mambo jumbo. The entire philosophy of the website is brilliant, because it is taking user generated content to another level. But its content discovery system looks very familiar. Where have I seen that before?

Oh, I remember, on Weheartit! Weheartit is a website I discovered while browsing through Tumblr (another very time consuming platform, but that I never quite stuck to) and when Pinterest was released I could not help but see the similarities.

Common features for Pinterest and Weheartit

You’ll be surprised, but here is the list:
1. The “heart it” and “pin it” buttons – they do the same thing, which is help you draw content (pictures and videos) to these two websites.
2. “Hearts” and “likes” – these are two equivalent features that help you identify your preferences.
3. “Sets” and “boards” – they do the same thing, which is group your favorite pictures according to a general concept or subject.
4. Sharing on Facebook and Twitter – of course, this feature could not be missing from this entire social context.
5. Upload an “image” or a “pin” – both platform allow you to upload your own content, which is great thing if you’re a photographer or some other kind of visual material creator.
6.Focus on fashion and all things pretty – although this is not exactly a technical similarity, I can see, from direct observation, that the profiles of the two websites are very much alike, both in terms of focus and audience.
7. Discover everyone’s “hearts” or just those from your friends and view your friends’ pins or browse through general categories or popular content – the separation of the streams of content is the same, the difference being that it’s just organized differently.

A difference between the two is that I believe Weheartit’s public is younger than Pinterest’s (I suspect a 14-20 years old majority on Weheartit and 18-25 on Pinterest).

Weheartit has a feature that I enjoy and hope to see on Pinterest soon: similar images – according to the website’s algorithm, it suggests images that are related to the ones you just hearted or added to a set.

Pinterest has a more focused and polished approach than Weheartit’s, which is why I believe it will achieve more in terms of users, interaction, time on site and, most importantly, sales. Pinterest can become a major vector for shopping, especially since the majority of its audience is made up of women. Also, Pinterest is more user friendly and its design is certainly superior. Also, the community it is building is more refined and made up of many niches. It also has a set of rules and guidelines, called the Pin Etiquette, that helps guide users and set standards for this environment. I wish Weheartit had a set of rules, because I’ve come across some very tedious, aggressive or even disgusting content there, probably posted by troubled teenagers with too much time to spare.

Pinterest is also gaining on the plugin front, because it had developed the Pin it button for websites and blogs of all kinds, which will be the next big thing in social media, besides the Like button. They also have a Follow button that you can add to your website and many independent developers have created plugins that can display your latest pins in sidebars. You can check out all the official goodies here.

A very nice touch are the blog and the Pinterviews. This brand seems to have a very high “loveability” potential, because it’s making up words which really sound good (which obviously I’m not good at). Their way of communicating is just cute, clean an the to point. And I believe these are the premises for success.

Weheartit never stood a chance, although it might have been a model that the team behind Pinterest was inspired by.

What I think Pinterest is useful for:

• visual artists (photographers, designers, architects, etc.)
• online shops
• the fashion industry
• food brands (be it big companies or blogs)
• any brand that produces attractive and “repin” worthy content
• affiliate marketing – this is a gold mine for this sector and it may be the moment where it can shine and really catch on, returning real profits.
• advertisers – creating visually compelling content is a good advertiser’s game and this could help a lot with general branding and personal branding. This also has the advantage of not being intrusive and could very well integrate with the users’ interests and passions.

The platform’s appeal is clear and I will continue to stick to it and observe how brands approach this network and what they make of it. Are you on Pinterest? Leave a link with your profile below, because I would love to check it out.

Weheartit logo source.