Pinterest: New hotness or just one more bleeping thing to worry about?

May 3, 2012

SMUG

What is Pinterest?

• Actually founded in 2008 as a company called Tote• It’s an online “pinboard.”• One of the fastest growing websites ever

– 500K users in May 2011, 11.7 million users in Jan. 2012– Owe a lot of that to a deal w/ Facebook– Audience could be as much as 83% female

• 2.3 billion page views in March – making it 3rd most popular social site.

OOOOOH SHINY!

Media cannot stop gushing about it

So how do I use it?

• You pin stuff, just like you’d tack it to a bulletin board.

• Organize your pins into boards• Follow others and reshare their pins• Good first timers guide

So what can you do with it?

• Show off products or locations

• Share video• Share inspirational quotes

visually• Get ideas for your own

projects• Links directly to your own or

other content

So what are the drawbacks?

• Copyright• Metrics are hard to come by • Tough to tell if “repins” really mean anything.

So what should colleges be doing with it?

• Up for debate• Tough to tell exactly how much our audience

is using it.• Vast majority of Pinterest users are 25-54.• But…..

Many Schools are Doing Some Cool Stuff

• Purdue—Using it to follow their basketball team

• Drake: Dorm Room Decor• Penn Career Services

Other Cool Stuff

• Minnesota is using to promote campus events.• Oberachievements at Oberlin College• Concordia “From the Archives”

The Upshot?

• Be strategic. • Be creative• Be prepared for people to say huh?• Let’s talk if you have ideas, because I’d love to

hear ‘em.

Questions? Comments? Complaints?

• @dtyler321• I’ll post these slides on Slideshare:

http://www.slideshare.net/Dtyler321/• Yes, we’re on Pinterest:

http://pinterest.com/collegeatbport/