I Don’t Get Pinterest [Poll]

As the Digital Managing Editor it's my job to understand and interpret trends in social media. Lately I've been spending time trying to understand the hot new social media site Pinterest, and I'll be totally honest: I just don't get it.

Pinterest is basically a giant pin board that you and all of your friends can 'pin' images, articles, and videos to, and then interact with them. There really isn't much in the way of status updates like Facebook and Twitter, and the site requires you to be social in a much different way. Pinterest is social around your interests, where Facebook is social around the rest of your life.

Scot Wingo, chief executive of ChannelAdvisor sums up Pinterest like this: "Facebook is like being at a cocktail party, whereas Pinterest is almost like a Tupperware party. People are not just chatting about anything - sports talk, or 'oh my God, my mom is sick,' or 'I love my cat' - it's already more commercial. It's people saying, 'I love this product.'"

And that's what I don't get. In our society of rampant commercialism, Pinterest has become the Mecca for brand love. Pinterest is essentially taking your favorite catalog, tearing out the pictures, and mailing them to your friends with a sticky-note attached.

Or am I totally missing the point?