If you live long enough, you’ll find Pinterest interesting

I've been pushing the merits of Pinterest a long time. I've used it as a base for most of my initiatives and rarely fallen out of love with it's functionality or design. I was looking for the chrome browser extension today and saw this little gem...

It says 10 million downloads of the browser extension. That is a significant number. It is more significant because it means that users have actively chosen to augment their snipping, clipping and foraging with a compatible browser extension.

Here is Buffer in comparison...

And Hootsuite...

The argument goes that Facebook is of primary importance for digital marketers because it is a channel of access. The same goes for Linkedin. The argument against Pinterest is that it is not "significant"enough. I see the simplified reasoning and the claim for the big sites, but by current reckoning, Pinterest is one of the biggest. Yet, still the negative slant, the askance stance.
I'm not really interested in why people cling to unreasonable assumptions, that one I can work out for myself. What I'm interested in is the functionality and tools that browser extensions and a visual search tool brings. There is a similar negativity towards Twitter and I think it is on the same basis, that it takes a little time to work out how it works, to discover the hidden depths to apparent simplicity.

Using Chrome is one of the most gadget friendly ways of accessing the internet. It is a little like wordpress in the way that so much customization can be delivered using plugins. I have another tool that functions like this, the impeccable iMacros.

The point of my digression is not what the common mass think, but how the tools work. When you use Chrome, some extensions and a big site like Pinterest together, you are moving a little part of the universe. While the reason is not exactly clear, the average internet user rarely digs down into the workings of these synergies. It is to your benefit.

If you use IFTTT and Zapier, you're using a wider subset of tools than most users. If you use those tools in a concentrated manner, then you are knocking down the silos of various platforms. Nobody who makes money from a facile user group really wants this, so most platforms eventually "follow the money," slowly, but surely, closing down you reach and shutting the doors on your functionality, until you are left in a darkened room writing messages that only you yourself will see. This is probably the natural cycle of institutional decline, just applied more quickly to the digital plane.

Those people on Linkedin who claim a superiority to Facebook,... you know they have a Facebook account too and are just "virtue signalling" to other monkeys on a facing tree. It's not even meant as a discussion point, but a "look at me" moment in a pointless workday. Look for a similar rationale when some expert tells you they use internet explorer or have never touched Pinterest. Maybe it's true, but it doesn't have to be you. You can use your own brain, many people do.

Little tricks like using Hootsuite, Pinterest and Buffer (extensions) together to distribute and schedule content. Little tricks like saving full size web pages to Pinterest, because users like long images and info-graphics. Developing interest groups based on visual imagery. Using shared boards. Using the visual search tools. Following boards and interest topics. High click through rates. SEO value, the ability to hashtag, generating board covers, making use of the demographics (more women on this site), selling visual products (those who cross promote Etsy and Amazon stores), collecting stickers (creating albums), developing concepts and ideas (dresses, cakes, decor, or anything else), making use of the following element to build out a profile or audience (social media), advertising a brand or a company (business account), generating seasonal traffic (tailoring your pin rate). Promoting different boards (topic selection), choosing an overall theme (branding). Using info-graphics in all their forms (site specific tools) and taller images (design)...and on and on.

There are so many use cases for Pinterest that it seems strange that "marketing" people don't talk about it. Seems a little odd, like the lack of conversation around browser extensions.

Maybe there is a little disinformation out there.

 The classic "nothing to see here" admonition from those in the know.

It has never been stated that marketing is an ethical profession, nor marketers innately good. So, you should not be surprised when the best tools are not spoken about and the lesser lights applauded by all and sundry. 

This is the nature of the profession, lauding inferior products in the face of obvious benefits to superior ones. Creating a "buzz." Disinformation is as valid as misinformation or omission, both can be passed off as uninformed speculation or simple forgetfulness. It is hard to argue with the numbers though. So why don't your hear more about Pinterest? 

Your guess is as good as mine.