Pinterest is one of the newest of what can be classed as a social media site but with a bit of a difference. It could actually be grouped with sites like reddit and stumbleupon (and quite a few others too numerous to mention) but it seems to have captured people’s imagination a little better.

The key point of pinterest is that it is a kind of virtual pinboard for people to post things. But the way that it has been set up might be the key. In effect you ‘pin’ a picture to the pinterest board in a category that is relevant to the picture or web page that it came from. Others can see whatever you have pinned and if they like it they can ‘repin’ it.

If you are someone with a website then this can drive traffic to your site if people repin your page or picture in large numbers. If you can get something eye catching and useful that is pinned then it will get read and repinned quite a bit.

You can pin something by linking in with your twitter or facebook account or you can apply for a pinterest account where you will be put on the waiting list!

Is pinterest the new facebook or twitter though? If it continues to take off as it has then who knows?