Pinterest is becoming the next big thing in social media. Pinterest is a social media platform that has online bulletin boards where users post their favorite images that lead to sites to show how to make that recipe, buy those products, make that craft, and so on. Users can follow other users on Pinterest who have similar interests to them, to see what they post. The site has become the third largest social media network behind Facebook and Twitter in a very short time period.

Pinterest was launched in 2010, and is already creating more traffic to company websites than YouTube, Google+ and LinkedIn combined. Its also the fastest site to reach 10 million monthly visitors. Pinterest pins (Images your post) can go viral by people like’ing them or re-pin’ing them. This site has become a main force for people sharing online, has even topped email. One guess to why Pinterest has been so popular is because it allows users to focus on who they want to be, rather than focusing on who they are at that moment like Facebook and Twitter do. Facebook and Twitter have been extreamly successful as well, but Pinterest adds a refreshing outlook on showing others new and exciting photos instead of showing information about their personal lives to the world. So on this site people are posting about what could be great instead of sharing information about their life now, which can come across as bragging or nagging.

Women were a driving force at the rise of popularity in Pinterest. As well as it’s popularity driving more in the Midwest. The company is valued around $4 billion and rising. Businesses have caught onto this phenomenon, and unlike Facebook whose users mainly want to see photos of people they know, Pinterest users want to see photos of consumer goods.

Businesses now use Pinterest as a tool to help promote their business, and gain more attention. Companies can create boards of their new clothing lines and post pictures of their new clothing items, and then lead those pictures to their company website. Businesses succeed with this model when their service or product is visually stimulating. Companies are also creating special deals for Pinterest users who visit their boards by creating coupons that are only obtainable through Pinterest. Social media has changed the way businesses operate and how they advertise.

To read more visit article by Marcus Wohlsen and an article by Jason Falls