The Pinning Dance: One Pinner's Analysis of Pinterest

Like the masses, I'm completely addicted to Pinterest. I was recently asked why I thought Pinterest was so successful and why it seems to be growing so unbelievably fast.

My first answer was simple: It's visual. Let's face it, most of us are visual people. We love eye candy. We're attracted to a product by its appearance, a recipe by the photo of the food,  and yes, a book by its cover. In fact, I would venture to guess that most Pinterest users repin a picture without even clicking on it  to read the text associated with the picture. I'm guilty of that myself.

So, I dug deeper. I came across this great infographic below. I'm admittedly growing tired of most infographics but this one is actually quite interesting and speaks the truth, in my humble opinion.

(Source: Mashable http://tinyurl.com/cb6q3ue)

I would also add the fact that Pinterest is deepy personal, customizable, and dare I say somewhat solitary-- but in a good way. Let me explain. When I linger on Pinterest, I'm not really actively engaging with friends or family. For the most part, I keep to myself. I see something, I repin it. I may be repinning a friend's pin, yes, but the act of repinning is the extent of my interaction with them. They'll see that I repinned it and that's enough.

I continue to build my boards and create my personal collections more for myself than for anybody else. I want to remember a beautiful photograph, so I pin it. I do this so I can return to my board at any later date to find that photograph again and admire it, or be inspired by it to create something else of my own. I pin a recipe so I can either make it myself down the road, or share it with a baker friend of mine. She'll see it on my board and repin it for herself. Again, that's the extent of our dialogue.

In essence, the act of pinning and repinning has literally become our entire conversation. I pin, you pin, a friend pins, I repin, somebody else pins, a stranger repins, a friend of the stranger repins, and so forth.  Pins are repeated for days, sometimes weeks to come. I've nicknamed this act of pinning and repinning: "The Pinning Dance."

(Pretend that pushpin above is spinning like a ballerina).

I still thoroughly enjoy The Pinning Dance and as such, I'd like to invite you to follow me on Pinterest here. I'd also love to hear your thoughts on Pinterest too! Please feel free to leave a comment on this post.

In other news (no pun intended), I'm busy this weekend writing an article for a local newspaper!

Stay tuned to hear more about that story next week!