It’s been a while since we last looked at Pinterest. While Facebook and Twitter are the two social networks to watch and be on, Pinterest has been quietly soldiering away in the background. They have a loyal following and an amazing site. Whereas a site like Twitter relies mostly on text, Pinterest relies on images. It’s a very stark contrast.
But one thing is for sure – if you are a marketing company, or someone who depends heavily on social media to get your message out, you need to be on Pinterest, as well as Facebook and Twitter. If your products cater heavily towards women, then you definitely need to be on Pinterest, as stats show that 80% of active Pinterest users are women. That’s a huge number of users, just waiting to be tapped.
Today I want to take a look at three new developments at Pinterest, which I think you should know about.
Personalised Pages
Recently, it was noticed that Pinterest was introducing a personalised homepage, based on the user’s interests. with a new category called “Personalised for You.”
This new section is a version of Pinterest based entirely on your interests. For example, a technology-focused Pinterest user might see categories like computers, tablets, smartphones, etc, on this page, which they could then click on.
What you will see is determined by your past pinning history. The Pinterest algorithms then squeak and squawk a bit (well, not really) and then comes up with pins that it thinks you will like. So if you have been pinning a lot of desserts and cakes, be prepared to see that big cream cake appear on your Pinterest wall.
However, not everyone has the feature. Pinterest could be “doing a Google”, and slowly releasing it to a select few at a time, in order to build up some hype. Users who do have the feature are said to be really positive about it, so feedback has been good.
To check to see if you have it, log into your Pinterest account, then drop down the top menu bar. If you have it, it should be the first option on the far left side, in red text.
New Pin For Chrome
Pinterest’s huge success comes from, of course, providing a button for users to pin images from around the web. Everytime you read a blog post, and you see the standard social media buttons at the end, it is usual now to see the Pin button as well for Pinterest.
But Pinterest also has a button for the Chrome browser, which is really useful if you like to collect a lot of images, while on your online travels. And now that pin has become even better. Interestingly, Pinterest doesn’t provide an official extension for Firefox. Users of browsers other than Chrome have to be content with the bookmarklet (click the same link as above, and the bookmarklet link is there).
So how is the new button smarter? According to Pinterest’s official blog, when you now mouse over an image on a webpage, you will now see a small “Pin It” button appear in the corner. You can then click that to pin the image to your Pinterest wall, and then continue on with your browsing.
The option to pin is also in the mouse right-click menu.
Ban On Buying Pins & Followers
I didn’t know this until recently, but it seems that there is an epidemic of money changing hands for certain images to be pinned, as well as Pinners buying followers to artificially inflate their popularity. It seems that people don’t want to take the time and effort to do things honestly so they are taking a few major shortcuts, with the aid of some cash. All they need is a Fiverr account, and a few unethical people – a.k.a. digital whores – willing to do anything for money.
Pinterest dislikes this state of affairs so much that they have amended their Acceptable Use Policy, which is basically their terms and conditions. You know, the small print that nobody reads, before using a site or installing a piece of software. But if you are engaging in putting yourself up for sale, you might want to read that small print after all.
If you can’t be bothered reading it, here’s the highlights :
“People should be able to find things on Pinterest that actually interest and inspire them. We believe that compensating people for doing specific things on Pinterest – like paying them to Pin – can promote inauthentic behaviour.
We don’t allow schemes that buy and sell Pins or pay people per Pin, follow, etc. We know that some popular Pinners have relationships with approved affiliate networks or participate in paid social media campaigns, and that’s still okay, as long as they’re not being compensated for each action on Pinterest”.
It’s good to see Pinterest taking a stand against dishonesty on the site. The ones that cheat spoil the user experience for the rest of us.