MobileandSocial

Yesterday I selected a post by Elad Gil who talked about Pinterest being the next big shiney thing on the web. Today I have selected another article by Don Reisinger    for Cnet News - digital home, who has more to say about this.

I do admit I'm participating on many betas because I feel the need to stay informed. I'm not usually drawn to every new thing that comes along but somehow, Pinterest has caught my eye.

Let's take a look at why Pinterest is becoming one of the most popular social networks, what's really happening here?

Here's what caught my attention:

**Pinterest so far has been the only company to distinguish itself. Late last month, Experian Hitwise, a company that monitors consumer behavior on the Web, reported that Pinterest had 11 million visits during the week ended December 17, jumping 4,000 percent compared with six months earlier.

**The massive bump catapulted Pinterest to the 10th spot in Experian's listing of the most popular social networks, just behind Yelp. Experian also discovered that Pinterest has found a loyal following in women.

**In the past three months, women have accounted for 58 percent of its userbase, and nearly 60 percent of those women are between the ages of 25 and 44.

**Opinions are mixed over why Pinterest has been able to attract such a large audience.

**Is it the service's solid design? Is it the attention it has received from media outlets shocked by its growth?

**Is it, perhaps, the fact that it recently raised $26 million from venture-capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, giving it bundles of cash to play with? It could be all that.

**But Gil thinks it might also have something to do with its ease-of-use.

**"Pinterest was one of the first sites to take push button content generation (via bookmarklets and 're-pinning') and structure it into sets of curated content called 'boards

**This allowed users to collect content from across the Web, as well as from other users on the site.

Reisinger ends his article with a word of caution:

**"Pinterest has yet to offer its service publicly. And once it finally moves beyond its invite-only phase, the company will be truly tested."

Followed by the question: 

**"will the mainstream Web user who typically joins the social game after early adopters pick up their invites, find value in it?"

** Chances are, we'll get the answers to those questions later this year.

Curated by Jan Gordon covering "Content Curation, Social Media and Beyond"

Read full article here [http://cnet.co/xilVUk]