There has been a lot of recent buzz about Pinterest. Founded by some big names in social media it has really taken off with around 2 million daily users as tracked by their Facebook page (link). Getting its name from a combination of the words interest and pin (their expression of repost, retweet, or reblogg), Pintrest looks to have created a nice niche and is working on filling it.

Why is Pinterest so good? First off, it has really set off a new trend of discovery vs search. You can only find what you are looking for on Google.com if you know the right keywords. For discovery, you want a broad array of topics that better allows for rabbit trails and freeform browsing. Pinterest gives that. Someone looking for a new recipe (Because the cookbook is dead) might realize that they don’t really want to cook when confronted with a great craft idea. It can all on the same board.

Pinterest has developed a community of discovery and sharing. It has a very light and open feel and its five columns filled with easily digested content makes it feel like there is always something more to see just beyond the page break. With their easy and standardized (as opposed to tumblr) format, it is easy for users to spend hours browsing, commenting, and repining, cake decorations, hair styles, inspirational quotes, and cute outfits.

Now, if you are a guy, you might be thinking that Pinterest sounds very slanted to the female gender. You would be right. Around  97% of Pinterest’s users are female (link). But, there are still boards (link) that are geared towards things that typically interest men. Later in this week I will be posting about Gentlemint and the way that it is attempting to compete with Pintrest as well as some internet entrepreneurship principles that they have applied and what the future might hold for these discovery sites.

Do you have your own social media network page? Of course you do. It has been the craze of the millennium and billions sign on to use these websites everyday. Facebook.com has been the most popular social media over the past few years; however, on June 28th, 2011 Google Inc. launched their version of social media called Google+. Immediately a buzz surrounded the social media globe as many suspected that with the entrance of corporate powerhouse (Google) into social networking that it would soon over take Facebook as the leader in Social Media. Now over six months in to their campaign, Google+ still sits behind in the rankings compared to #1 Facebook and I believe (along with others) that is exactly where Google+ will remain for a long time.

Google is entering into the social media game a little too late. This is not like when Facebook overtook MySpace as number 1. Why? Well when Facebook entered into the battle over number 1 with MySpace, Zuckerberg took information management to the next level which MySpace simply did not have the vision to do. The change Facebook made compared to MySpace was huge, but the proposed ideas Google+ are making are simply not “BIG” enough to smite Facebook. Google+ will never gain enough respect to surpass Facebook because Google Inc. will always be seen as the search engine corporation. In marketing terms (as taught by the great Dr. Powell) “It is better to be first than to be better.” This means that since Facebook was the first at enhancing and mastering information sharing they will always be the go-to network even if someone can better their ideas (much like people believe Google+ has done).

Still don’t believe me? Here’s a quote form the Kanzuru Blog called “Why Google+ Will Never Surpass Facebook – Sorry Google Shareholders, it is not the next Facebook Killer” or as seen on technorati.com  under the title “Why Google+ is not the Facebook it Thinks it is.” The article says, “People will always see Google as just that: Google. Google is merely about information and passing information from one person to the next, from one point to another. This is all about marketing 101 – branding.” The article continues by going on to say, “Google is an information or “search for information” brand, not a social networking brand. Google+ does not have all of the quirks that made Google, “Google” when it came into the business of transferring information. Google was in and of the same – it was it’s brand but it was also it’s action, and it’s essence.” Though Google is a huge corporation and undoubtedly has created some of best innovations of the 21st century, it will never become the number 1 social media network it wants to become. Mainly, because Facebook is just better.

Here’s the link to the Kanzuru Blog that I used my quotes from:

http://onekanzuru.wordpress.com/2011/07/18/why-google-will-never-surpass-facebook-sorry-google-shareholders-it-is-not-the-next-facebook-killer/

In my previous Post Challenges of Starting a new website Part 1.  I talked about my new website My Weekend Trip Planner and how difficult it is to get your website discovered.  It is very difficult to get that initial traffic to the sight especially because SEO is really hurt by the fact that the site is so new. It is important to build the traffic to your site at least initially through other sources then just search engine.  These ways can be things like word or mouth or paid advertisements.  One of the ways I have found that works the best is social media.  Social media is extremely important especially for discovering a website.  You need to use social media to create a buzz for example on My Weekend Trip Planner when I launched the site I changed my status on Facebook to announce the launch of my new site.  I also tweeted it.  I received 30 visits from that in 4 hours.  This is perfect example of you can use social media to tell people about your site hopefully they will then tell their friends and the result can be viral.  This will then increase the likely hood people liking to you and before you know have a powerful website.

Twitter is an extremely powerful social media tool.  It allows you to connect to your audience and interact with them.  I found a great plugin in WordPress that really allows your Twitter account to be integrated to your website.  It is called cbnet Twitter Widget.  It is a really sleek looking plugin that extremely customizable and allows people to see what your Twitter profile looks like and what they would be following.  I use my twitter account to mainly let people know when I have written an article.  This let people see exactly what  they would be signing up for.  Here is a picture of what the plugin would look like on my website:

Written by Ford Jordan
FordJordan.com | SEO, Web Design, Sports, and Business

I love Twitter. My first use of Twitter was as an account for a band I was with at the time, a way to communicate with fans, update them instantaneously, and tweet the shenanigans that we were up to. About a year ago, though, I decided to sign myself up for it. As I became more interested in social media and in engaging with the world via the internet, I recognized this little bird as a force to be reckoned with.

Since then, I’ve really come to enjoy it! Twitter is a great source of immediate news and interesting items. I follow numerous world news, local news, business news, music news sports news, sports teams and athletes, celebrities, comedians, businesses, bands and friends so that I can log in at any time and get information that is actually beneficial. I feel that Facebook focuses on people, particularly friends. Honestly, I’m not sure it’s worth much besides keeping up to date on friends that I would rather call, text, or hang out with anyways. With Twitter, I can connect to the happenings of the world. Also, being followed by people I don’t know is much less creepy than being friend requested by those people on Facebook.

My roommate and I often get caught up with trying to be retweeted or responded to by the many Pittsburgh Steelers that we follow. I also love to spout off opinions on matters that my 100+ followers will see, many of them companies, professional musicians and professional athletes. I believe that the endless struggle by many Twitter users to gain followers and to be retweeted is driven by something everybody wants: attention.

Twitter is an incredible place for Steve Jobs, Ben Folds, LaMarr Woodley, Taco Bell and Dan Van Matre to have an equal voice. Try it out!