A conflict of Pinterest? Take Evernote (on my Galaxy Note)

Hanson Hosein
Using Evernote on my Galaxy Note: Photo courtesy Seattle Chamber

My biggest “wow” from yesterday’s Seattle Chamber Interest in Pinterest event (which I moderated), was how locally-based Allrecipes.com has migrated its social engagement away from Facebook to the new visual platform (which is now the 3rd most popular online social network). That’s even as Bloomberg reports today that Pinterest referral sales on Amazon (via Zappos) are dwarfed by those from Twitter.

Social media ROI is generally in question now, as evidenced by this summer’s litany of controversies and conflicts surrounding Facebook (the dismal IPO, Zynga’s collapse) and Twitter (NBC Olympics fiasco, stranglehold on its API) business developments.  My MCDM colleague Ken Rufo does a good job of analyzing this in his recent Flip The Media post advocating the newest social platform on the block, Ghost in the Wire: Why We Should Support App.net.  This even as mobile is seemingly supplanting the old guard of social web platforms (which may be one reason why sites such as Pinterest and Instagram are skyrocketing in use). See The Trend that Terrifies Big Tech:

Web businesses used to disrupt traditional businesses. But today, no large web business is safe from mobile first disruptors. The celebrated web disruptors – the likes of Facebook, Google, Flickr, and Amazon – are now being challenged by mobile-focused businesses.

I’m not especially adept at Pinterest myself, though I do see the scrapbooking benefits, especially as we gravitate to more visual forms of online expression.  Rather, Evernote remains my curation platform of choice. I used it during the event as my public set of notes to be shared with the attendees — much like a highly useful real-time blog post (pasted below as well). You can see me referring to it above on my large Galaxy Note smartphone (Samsung announced the next version of this highly useful device today). And I keep a public “Essential Reading” notebook for anyone who wants to plug into my selection of the best and most current analyses in media. As for Pinterest, it remains for now, predominantly a draw for female users. Exhibit A: Monday’s breathless Good Morning America feature:


MY EVENT EVERNOTE by Hanson Hosein

https://www.evernote.com/pub/hrhmedia/essentialreading

Director MCDM, President HRH Media

http://amazon.com/author/hansonhosein

MARK DYCE WELCOMES

IN-NW VIDEO https://vimeo.com/46435770

HANSON: WHY WE’RE TALKING ABOUT THIS:

The Trend That Terrifies Big Tech– MOBILE http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2012/08/21/mobile/

“Web businesses used to disrupt traditional businesses. But today, no large web business is safe from mobile first disruptors. The celebrated web disruptors – the likes of Facebook, Google, Flickr, and Amazon – are now being challenged by mobile-focused businesses.

Take Facebook (FB). When compared to the elegance and intimate focus of Path, Facebook feels like a generic and sprawling mess. Google (GOOG) Maps, for another, is one of the most popular web services on the planet, but it feels utilitarian and bland when compared to the more playful, personal, and mobile-optimised Foursquare. Web photo sharing services Flickr (YHOO) and Picasa are disrupted and challenged by nimble mobile offerings by the likes of Instagram.

Mobile-first businesses are forced to prioritize and focus, and in order to survive they must design simple and elegant services. This gives them core advantages in a world that’s quickly going mobile and where sharp strategic focus coupled with first-class service design is critical.”

Pinterest, Instagram: Big year.  Last year, were 188th and 609th in social network standings respectively, this year #3, #11 http://allthingsd.com/20120827/big-years-for-instagram-and-pinterest-bust-up-the-social-networking-charts/?mod=googlenews

Olympics, smartphone ownership (Apple v Samsung court ruling): NBC served up 64 million streams through the first six days to all platforms — web, mobile, tablet — including 29 million live-event streams — a 343 percent increase over the Beijing Olympics four years ago. http://pro.gigaom.com/2012/08/nbc-and-the-olympics-old-ways-still-earn-gold/.  Nearly half of the streams were mobile/tablet (http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/how-the-second-screen-scored-in-the-summer-olympics.php) 12 million people tuned into BBC via mobile/tablet http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/how-the-second-screen-scored-in-the-summer-olympics.php

— also “Second Screen” phenomenon grows, as does YouTube’s reach http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/08/500-million-youtube-channels/

“The old YouTube you knew (and maybe loved!) is gone. It’s been replaced by something that’s a lot more like a play-anywhere, device-agnostic, multi-channel network. It’s becoming a cable network for people who don’t have cable. YouTube doesn’t want you to watch videos anymore — not in the singular sense, at least. It wants you to stick around and see what comes next. It wants you to start watching on your phone as you head home from work, pick up again on your TV as you relax in the evening, and then nod off to its content while you’re lying in bed, as it streams from your tablet.”

Pervasiveness of digital to the point of invisibility, plus some fatigue/concern as FB, Twitter monetize.  We’re disrupting ourselves as educators, October 12th all-day bootcamp (http://www.fourpeaks.org)., and our graduate program (http://www.mcdm.uw.edu).

Brotman blog post (“Four years is a lifetime” http://adambrotman.com/blog/2012/08/26/four-years-is-a-lifetime/)

BROTMAN (CDO, Starbucks) “At this time in 2008, Twitter had 3 million users, and today it’s approaching 200 million.  Facebook had 100 million users in August of 2008, and today it’s about to cross one billion users.  Smartphone adoption in the U.S. was at 12% in Q3 2008, and now it’s approaching 60%…on it’s way to 100%.  At this time in 2008, Square, Instagram and Pinterest didn’t even exist.  This rapid pace of adoption, change and innovation not only continues, but is accelerating.”

QUESTIONS:

– Is FB losing its prominence? [App.net, declining growth in the US, stock price concerns, Zynga] http://techcrunch.com/2012/08/02/the-platform-ecosystem-wars-rome-is-burning/.  Meanwhile, the death of SEO? “what does Google want? They want relevant, real content on the internet that people want to read and tell other people about. If Google doesn’t bring you the most relevant content when you search they aren’t doing their job.”

– Square/Starbucks deal (mobile commerce)? “land grab” in mobile payments (where payment data is more important than payment fees?)

– Twitter engineering office here; what does that mean for Seattle?  Startups here?  Twitter third party/API

– Visual movement/quicker consumption; visual vocabulary (visual nature: big image on FB in last 24 hours http://cheezburger.com/6541734656); TODAY in Fast Company http://www.fastcompany.com/3000794/rise-visual-social-media

PINTEREST

Now the 3rd largest social network (that was back in March, with 104 million users)

GMA piece yesterday (August 27th): http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/pinterest-skyrockets-popularity-17086086

“social bookmarking site” skyrocketing this year.

Who’s fueling it?  Grownups…folks looking for inspiration.

“fastest growing website ever” GMA yesterday

simple, easy to use, entertaining

social media site: collect and share images.  Recipes, home decor, travel

“eye candy”

equivalent to tearing something interesting out of a magazine.

plan wedding.

Both Michelle Obama and Anne Romney have them.

Everyone featured in GMA piece: ALL WOMEN

WHY ARE YOU USING PINTEREST?

HOW DO USE IT?

WHO?

Is it mostly women?  See Mashable’s top 10 Pins this week: http://mashable.com/2012/08/26/top-10-pinterest-pins-9/#view_as_one_page-gallery_box7233

Also: http://www.forbes.com/sites/gyro/2012/08/20/women-are-from-pinterest-men-are-from-google/ (71% men on Google+)

BEST PRACTICES?

“Few organizations are ready to dive in to social networking site Pinterest, according to a new survey by The Creative Group, a division of specialized staffing leader Robert Half International that specializes in advertising, marketing and public relations.” http://www.holmesreport.com/expertknowledge-info/12289/Few-Companies-Have-Embraced-Pinterest.aspx [44% no interest]

The Creative Group offers three tips for using Pinterest to display creative work:

1. Organize your boards wisely. If you want people to peruse your pins, you have to make it easy and intuitive for them to find what they’re looking for. Carefully consider what content you want to showcase, whether it’s a collection of your own print and web work or fascinating infographics you’ve seen, and create a clear, concise title for each board.

2. Create captions. Make sure viewers understand the context of your pins by labeling personal portfolio samples with the client’s name (assuming you have permission), project objective, your role and any positive outcomes. When repinning, comment on why you found the image compelling.

3. Build your following. The best way to attract more eyes to your Pinterest page is to engage with other pinners. Follow boards and users with similar interests, and then like, comment on or repin images you find inspiring.

Good piece on B2B to humanize your brand via Pinterest: http://www.toptenwholesale.com/news/pinterest-tips-and-tricks-to-support-your-b2b-marketing-campaign-16687.html

MEASUREMENT?

http://socialmediatoday.com/jacey-gulden/676966/pinteresting-and-pinformational-4-tools-get-most-out-pinterest-business

Pinreach (Klout for Pinterest)

Pinfluencer (more influential pinners)

COMPARED TO OTHER PLATFORMS?

http://www.curalate.com/

General notes:

RON: large brand perspective, Fortune 500 brands.  How they’re best using it.  Legal ramifications of Pinterest (who owns the images, who owns what?).  Experimentation phase.  Auto makers are really driving this, more effectively (how? audience segmentation, customized interiors).  Some of our technology clients are male; int’l males.  really high income, tech geeks, UK males started before females.

JENN: legal ramifications (who owns the content?) Pinterest guidelines (only pinning from our site); All Recipes Pinterest site.  Seasonally relevant content.  Back-to-school themed pins.  How to get all this content out.  Not bombarding our users.  Tracking success?  Pinnerly, Curalate to see what the community is doing. 15,000 followers, 168k on FB.  Reach on Pinterest 753% growth.  Social media members are moving to Pinterest, than on FB.  Can find you a lot easier, don’t have to follow your brand.  People are finding us because other people are repinning.

HUGE THING TO TALK ABOUT: platforms are taking off, don’t have the infrastructure to handle brands.  Can’t get anyone from Pinterest.

Is this a news feed?  or a product/idea feed?  Does it have to be visually attractive?

Can’t schedule pins.

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