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== History ==
== History ==
Erika wishes Kevin would take her to Mr. Pauls

Development of Pinterest began in December 2009, and the site launched as a [[closed beta]] in March 2010. The site proceeded to operate in invitation-only [[open beta]]. Later, the site made registration possible after an email request.
Development of Pinterest began in December 2009, and the site launched as a [[closed beta]] in March 2010. The site proceeded to operate in invitation-only [[open beta]]. Later, the site made registration possible after an email request.


Revision as of 11:43, 27 February 2012

Pinterest
Available inEnglish
URLpinterest.com
RegistrationRequired for full functionality

Pinterest is a pinboard-styled social photo sharing website. The service allows users to create and manage theme-based image collections. The site's mission statement is to "connect everyone in the world through the 'things' they find interesting." Pinterest is managed by Cold Brew Labs, a team based in Palo Alto, California. The website has proven especially popular among women.[2]

History

Erika wishes Kevin would take her to Mr. Pauls Development of Pinterest began in December 2009, and the site launched as a closed beta in March 2010. The site proceeded to operate in invitation-only open beta. Later, the site made registration possible after an email request.

On August 16, 2011, Time magazine listed Pinterest in its "50 Best Websites of 2011" column.[3] Pinterest is similar to earlier social, image bookmarking systems based on the same principle, such as David Galbraith's 2005 project Wists.[4]

The Pinterest app for iPhone was last updated in August 2011.[5] The company also has a mobile website.

In December 2011, the site entered the top 10 social networks, according to Hitwise data, with 11 million total visits per week.[6] The next month, it drove more referral traffic to retailers than LinkedIn, YouTube, and Google+.[7][8] The same month, the company was named the best new start up of 2011 by TechCrunch.[9] Noted entrepreneurs and investors include: Jack Abraham, Michael Birch, Scott Belsky, Brian S. Cohen, Shana Fisher, Ron Conway, Kevin Hartz, Jeremy Stoppelman, Hank Vigil, and Fritz Lanman.

In January 2012, comScore reported the site had 11.7 million unique users, making it the fastest site in history to break through the 10 million unique visitor mark.[10] Pinterest's wide reach helped it achieve an average of 11 million visits each week in December 2011. Most of the site's users are female, with 97% of the site's Facebook "likes" being made by women.

Usage

Users of Pinterest curate themed image boards, populating them with media found online using the "Pin It" button, or uploaded from their computer.[11] Each such item of media is known as a "pin", and can be a picture, a video, a discussion, or a monetary gift. Pins can be grouped into "boards", which are sets of pins created on a given topic. Pinterest can be accessed by adding the "pin it" button to the desktop bookmark bar, "follow me" and "pin it" buttons added to personal website or blog pages, and the Pinterest iPhone application available through the App Store.[12]

To register for Pinterest, new users must receive an invitation from a friend already registered on Pinterest or request an invitation directly from the Pinterest website. The registration process currently requires users to link their Pinterest account to their Facebook or Twitter account. Users choosing to log in via Facebook must currently be using (or opt in to) Facebook's "timeline" format.[13][14]

Pinterest allows users to follow the activity of other Pinterest users. A "Tastemakers" page suggests relevant users to follow.[11] When viewing the site's homepage, a user sees a "Pin Feed" that shows activity among the boards and pinners that the user follows.

Business

In early 2011, the company secured a $10 million Series A led by Bessemer Venture Partners. In October 2011, the company secured $27 million in funding from Andreessen Horowitz, which valued the company at USD $200 million.[15] Earlier in the year, it had been valued through venture financing at only $40 million.[16]

As of February 2012, the start-up, with 16 employees, did not have much revenue and was unprofitable.[17] Pinterest derives some income from modifying users' affiliate links to commercial sites. By replacing the original affiliate tracking code with Pinterest's tracking code, any affiliate payment is passed to Pinterest instead of the original affiliate.[18][19]

Copyrighted content

Content creators on sites such as iStock have expressed concern over their work being reused on Pinterest without permission. Getty Images said that it was aware of Pinterest's copyright issues and was in discussion with them. Pinterest has a notification system which allows copyright holders to request that content be removed from the site. One journalist questioned the "safe harbor" status of Pinterest.[20]

A "nopin" HTML meta tag was released by Pinterest on February 20 to allow websites to opt out of their images being pinned. On February 24, Flickr implemented the code to allow users to opt out their photos.[21]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Pinterest web traffic statistics". Alexa. February 25, 2012. Retrieved February 25, 2012.
  2. ^ Clayton Morris (February 13, 2012). "Pinterest: Facebook for women?". Fox News. Retrieved February 13, 2012.
  3. ^ McCracken, Harry (August 16, 2011). "The 50 Best Websites of 2011". Time. Retrieved August 21, 2011.
  4. ^ "You are what you curate: why Pinterest is hawt".
  5. ^ "Pinterest". Pinterest. iTunes App Store. Retrieved November 2, 2011.
  6. ^ Sloan, Paul (December 22, 2011). "Pinterest: Crazy growth lands it as top 10 social site". CNET News. Retrieved February 2, 2012.
  7. ^ Fox, Zoe (February 1, 2012). "Pinterest Drives More Traffic Than Google+, YouTube and LinkedIn". Mashable. Retrieved February 7, 2012.
  8. ^ Indvik, Lauren (January 29, 2012). "Pinterest Becomes Top Traffic Driver for Retailers". Mashable. Retrieved February 7, 2012.
  9. ^ Josh Constine (January 31, 2012). "Congratulations Crunchies Winners! Dropbox Is The Best Overall Startup". TechCrunch. Retrieved February 7, 2012.
  10. ^ Tuesday, February 7, 2012 (February 7, 2012). "Pinterest Hits 10 Million U.S. Monthly Uniques Faster Than Any Standalone Site Ever -comScore". TechCrunch. Retrieved February 15, 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  11. ^ a b Warner Spencer, Melanie (August 11, 2011). "Pinning: These are a few of my favorite things". Hearst Communications. Retrieved August 21, 2011.
  12. ^ "What is Pinterest?". Pinterest.com. Retrieved January 7, 2012.
  13. ^ "Pinterest / Help". Pinterest.com. Retrieved February 8, 2012.
  14. ^ Tsukayama, Hayley (March 25, 2011). "Facebook's Timeline has some vocal dissenters". The Washington Post. Retrieved February 8, 2012.
  15. ^ Swisher, Kara (October 7, 2011). "Exclusive: Pinterest Set to Close a New Round with Andreessen Horowitz". AllThingsD. Retrieved January 7, 2012.
  16. ^ Shah, Semil (November 6, 2011). "The Rise of Pinterest and the Shift From Search to Discovery". TechCrunch. Retrieved January 7, 2012.
  17. ^ Sarah E. Needleman and Pui-Wing Tam (February 16, 2012). "Pinterest's Rite of Web Passage—Huge Traffic, No Revenue". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2012-02-17.
  18. ^ "Is Pinterest already making money?". New York Times. February 7, 2012. Retrieved February 14, 2012.
  19. ^ "Skimlinks Downplays Pinterest's Affiliate Link Practice". Marketingland.com. February 8, 2012. Retrieved February 15, 2012.
  20. ^ Jeff Roberts. "Pinterest – is it a Facebook or a Grokster?". paidcontent.org. Retrieved February 14, 2012.
  21. ^ Joann Pan (24 February 2012). "Flickr vs. Pinterest: Flickr Users Can Now Implement Pinterest Opt-Out". Mashable. Retrieved 24 February 2012.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pinterest&oldid=479104274"