Pinterest’s tasty layout is only part of its appeal. Pinterest

“I’m still trying to understand the whole thing but there must be something to it. It’s really popular!”

That’s my sister-in-law writing on Facebook in late January about Pinterest – one of the real up-and-comers in the world of social media.

In case you haven’t succumbed, Pinterest is a virtual pinboard or scrapbook to which users “pin” images, video, or snippets of text from other websites, or content they’ve uploaded themselves.

Those pins can then be organised into categories (“cooking”, “sport”, etcetera). Users can comment on or share the pins, and other people can pin them to their personal Pinterest boards as well.

Sound simple? It is. Sound like yet another social bookmarking site? It is.

Despite not being unique, and currently still being invite-only, Pinterest is 2012’s breakout social media marketing darling.

“Social media fatigue’

Every new social media service faces two related forms of user resistance. The first is the “tool for task” problem: “What will service X do that service Y doesn’t do?“ The second is the “friend silo” problem: “Why do I need service X when all my friends are in service Y?”

If a new social media venture (such as Pinterest) can’t successfully address both of those questions, the future is likely to bring stagnation (sorry, Google+) or a slow death (sorry, Unthink).

But Pinterest seems to have hit a Web 2.0 sweet-spot, providing compelling answers to both questions. It delivers highly revisitable, personal collections that have high social interest and are extremely easy to share.

Sure, Pinterest resembles any number of “social collection” services. It combines online bookmarking (like Delicious), online photography (like Flickr), and social news (like Facebook). But the way it combines these features makes for a valuable new addition to the social media landscape.

Me first, others second

An individual’s Pinterest site has both individual and social qualities. Users collect things for themselves with a view to returning to the collection themselves.

That desire to return and see the collection grow, to compare and contrast an ever-larger but relevant set of things is a huge part of Pinterest’s success.

The fact other friends are not on Pinterest is no barrier to use because the service has value to the individual first. This is in stark contrast to a service such as Google+ or Facebook which, without friends to follow, offers a less-than-complete experience.

Of course online photography sites such as Flickr could also act the same way, but such sites tend to be about uploading one’s own content rather than collecting material while online.

To continue reading this article from The Conversation, click here.