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What is Pinterest?

Well, it isn't an appreciation society for that stalwart of British theatre, Harold Pinter, or even for the well-loved British pint. And it's definitely nothing to do with that old donkey party game.

Very funny. What is it then?

Pinterest calls itself an online pin board and is the latest social media craze.

I have never heard of it, and I thought I was up to date on these things.

I think you can be excused. It was launched two years but only really came to be noticed last summer.

How many people are using it?                                    

It had more than seven million unique visitors in December 2011, up from 1.6 million in September and it is spreading like wild fire across the social media community.

Why should I care?

It's driving more traffic to company websites and blogs than YouTube, Google+ and LinkedIn put together, according to a recent report by Shareaholic. It has also been awarded TechCrunch's Best New Startup of 2011, and, according to comScore, Pinterest was the fastest growing independent site to hit ten million unique visits in the United States.

Wow. So how does it work?

Put simply, it's a place where images (and videos) are shared. Once uploaded these 'pins' can be placed on customised or themed boards. The number of boards is endless from supermarket shopping lists to artists using it to organise images of their work. Boards can have many different contributors so co-workers can collaborate on a project in one place.

So can companies use it to promote new products?

Absolutely, but the more savvy social media users are not getting too promotional; it is generally frowned upon to spam boards with nothing but your own products. Whole Foods Market pins pictures of delicious looking food. Burberry also created a board to unveil its latest line.

Umm. Sounds good, I might go and start my own board.

Stop right there. Sadly, you have to be invited to get involved. You can sign up for invites on the site, or you might already know someone who will send you an invite...

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