Three wonderfully telling stories on social media

I continue to be fascinated by Pinterest and I’m assuming you’ve been swept up in the craze, too (if you‘ve been invited, that is). For once I was a semi-early adopter and it continues to enthrall me.

And apprently, I’m not alone.

Story #1: Pinterest drives more traffic than Google+, YouTube, and LinkedIn combined. Time spent on Pinterest seems to fly by. PG-rated voyeurism is about as addictive as a social media behavior can be. Speaking of which…

Story #2: Social Media is more addictive than tobacco and alcohol. So maybe all those millions of folks hunched over glittering screens isn't so bad after all? If people in this country can spend their time Tweeting instead of smoking and drinking, the optometry industry and Relax The Back stores should soon be experiencing a boon, but Dr. Drew may soon be out of business.

And to further the notion that bad behavior may be a relative term for our technorati, a form of naughty fashion guides…

Story #3: Socks as a form of rebellion in Silicon Valley.

Not much I can say about this one other than, it sure is hard to make fun of goofballs making millions who get a rush from polka dotted socks.

Hold on. I just did.

For those who poo-poo Pinterest, take a gander at this

Is it just my imagination or is Pinterest growing faster than Facebook?

Um...no. In terms of size and growth rate, Pinterest is still smaller than an undersized tick on the back of an old Black Bear. It just may seem that way from all the press coverage and buzz.

Still, Pinterest is flexing it’s digital muscle without even lifting a finger. Mashable shows Pinterest’s ability to be a strong tool to drive traffic to retail websites, through a short article and cool infographics.

When I first played with Pinterest I thought of it nothing more than digital masturbation and an endless time waste. I think I may have said something similar when Facebook first appeared on the scene (“Why would anyone care about what other people are doing right now?) and quite possibly Twitter (“Why would anyone care about what other people are doing right now in only 140 characters or less?).

I’ll never poo-poo another internet sensation. In fact, I’m a believer in Pinterest.

Clearly, it has relevance to commerce.

Being an almost entirely visual medium, it plays globally. And brings a new dimension to PG-rated voyeurism.

And It's proven to be a giant when it comes to community building.

Stop poo-pooing and start Pinning.

The simple, old school secret behind Pinterest

Pinterest is white hot. Everyone is Pinterest-ing, covering pinboards with pictures of chicken parmesan, Reese Witherspoon’s hairstyles, and cats kissing rabbits.

Jewelry, home décor, vacation photos…pure fluff, right? Digital masturbation.

Think again. What some would call a massive waste of time was just given $26 million by venture capital firm Andreessen-Horowitz to play with.

But it’s not a fun little site just for playing around. To start with, here are some interesting thoughts on how to use Pinterest for small businesses.

Most important, Pinterest is becoming a great example of a successful self-curating community. So of course, everyone is speculating about the reasons for Pinterest’s massive success. The best combination of clear and complete came from Elad Gil.

But I’ll boil it down even further. Here’s why:

Spirograph, Play-Doh, Silly Putty.

These classic toys are just three examples of how folks enjoyably occupied their time back in the pre-internet days. Doesn’t get much more analog than that, but they were pretty revelatory when they came out.

Ridiculously successful, each one shared three basic qualities:

It’s fun, it’s easy to use, and it looks cool.

So is Pinterest.

Will Pinterest have the same longevity? Only time will tell. But Google, Youtube, and Facebook also share those three qualities, and their futures look pretty good.