On the heels of our post about social shopping site Svpply, here's another newcomer to the collective commerce crowd. Pinterest describes itself as "a virtual pinboard — a place where you can post collections of things you love, and 'follow' collections created by people with great taste."
At this point in its BETA stage, Pinterest is open by invitation only, but potential pinners can request an invite to try it.
Conceived by Palo Alto-based startup Cold Brew Labs — led by Ben Silbermann (co-founder), Paul Sciarra (co-founder), and Yashwanth Nelapati (engineer) — Pinterest has been attracting attention in the ever-converging worlds of tech and online shopping.
In a smart marketing move, Silbermann and Sciarra approached tastemakers like Victoria Smith (sfgirlbybay), Jeanine Hays (Aphrochic), and Katie Evans (Kate Spade) to create design boards that Pinterest users could 'follow' and 'like.'
At the same time, they've been noticed in the tech world for raising hefty capital and calling out MySpace for ripping off their layout.
Less product-oriented than Svpply and more geared towards bloggy inspiration-board style, the site still has a "Buyable" category where browsers can search for linked products. Here are a few of the "pinned" products we found and liked...
SHOWN ABOVE
• Bookbound iPad Case - Pinned from DODOcase, $65
• Blue Cable Knit Porcelain Cups - Pinned from Etsy, $25
• Paris Umbrella Sticky Tape - Pinned from Etsy, $12.40
• Tajika Copper Scissors from Analoguelife.com, $66
• 3 Speed Round Bar 22" - Pinned from The Classic Bicycle Shop, $850
• Paint Chip Quilt by Kim Eichler Messmer - Pinned from Etsy, $300
• DIY Planner Template - Pinned from Etsy, $10
• Le Creuset Signature 6-Piece Cookware Set - Pinned from Williams-Sonoma, $500
• Babaghuri Teapot - Pinned from Analoguelife.com, $115
• Industrial Task Lamp - Pinned from West Elm, $79
Any first-hand reviews of Pinterest? Add them in the comments below.
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Comments (19)
I love Pinterest! I pin stuff from Apartment Therapy all the time.
Thanks for the really nice writeup. Pinterest is still in private beta, but we'd love to have Apartment Therapy readers join our little community. This link is good for 50 invites: http://bit.ly/enidh
I love Pinterest, i've been Pinning for a couple of months, also some of which came from APT I believe. It's a quick user friendly and fun way to gather the things that make your eyes happy and give you inspiration :)
I've been wanting to try pinterest, but is it possible to do so without being a user of facebook or twitter?
I am in love with pinterest. I started about a month ago and it's simply addictive! So worth getting hooked on!
@8en: thank you for the invite! I can see that I will soon become addicted!! Question: I signed up through Facebook. Will all my friends be able to see my Pintrest boards? I'd rather they didn't. What can I do to keep the two separate? Thanks!
It's so great! Constant stream of gorgeous images and a cool way to get introduced to new (to me) artists, websites, brands, etc. As everyone keeps saying, it's totally addictive!
Kit_Kat... I just signed up too and the signup screen said it wouldn't post anything to my feed without asking me first.
(My Facebook feed, that is.)
Okay, nobody seems to want to ask the obvious question, so I guess I will: how is the money being made? How are the investors to get a return on their investment? If you don't pay to join, then that means you (or rather your purchasing power) are the product. So I would guess that companies pay to have their products featured by the "tastemakers," and everybody pretends that the site isn't just prettily-packaged advertising. Or, better yet, once the site is doing well, you start charging people to sign up, so that they're actually paying for the privilege of viewing paid ads.
Pinterest is great. One of things I like best about it is that there is a link to the site the picture was pinned from. So, if I pin a photo of some curried noodles on a cooking site, I can find the recipe again easily. My bookmarks list is no longer virtual miles long! Plus I've met some neat people.
@Kit_Kat - we only post to your Facebook feed if you push a share on Facebook button.
Right now, we require either Facebook or Twitter. We've found that content quality and engagement is better when people use an authentic identity.
I had a Facebook account when I first signed up a few months back, but have since closed it. It still seems to be working just fine.
I love Pinterest. It keeps all my bookmarks in an easily organized way.
I really enjoy using Pinterest. It was just the solution I was looking for to keep track of things I like, and it has given me an interesting overall picture. I pin things from Apartment Therapy all the time, and I have 21 followers, though I am not a "taste maker" and I only know two of them personally. My only complaint is the Facebook/Twitter constraint, since I wasn't signed up for either when I first wanted to sign up for Pinterest.
I kaboodle all my stuff
I havent taken the plunge on pinterest yet, but I LOVE this one
http://pinterest.com/elsieinterior/
I'm DYING waiting for an invite!!! I need an invite to Pinterest, can anyone help a girl out? my email is lipstikinny@yahoo.com
I'd really like to join Pinterest but I can't b/c I deleted my Facebook and Twitter accounts 2 years ago. Truly disappointing.
I have been on Pintrest since 3/22/12 I guess I never signed in before. I requested an invite recieved one. And was always on there. I guess I never properly loged out. My daughter went to get on noticed she was pinning to mine. So she logged me out and I cant remember my password. To enjoy pintrest any longer and I love my boards and "DONT" want to start over. Can you please help