Is Pinterest a Threat to Facebook?

35 replies
We probably know that building natural social links is the best way to escape Google slap and socializing plays a great role here.

Pinterest getting popular everyday, will this be a real threat to Facebook? The major problem with Facebook is that it is getting more and more spammy everyday. The idea of Pinterest should have inspired Facebook which may be the reason it has hooked up with Flickr for photo sharing.

With all this, please comment your thoughts on if Pinterest will be a real threat to Facebook?
#facebook #pinterest #threat
  • Profile picture of the author Joseph Robinson
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    At the current moment, no. Let's give Pinterest some more time to see if it actually has staying power. I personally don't like jumping to conclusions too early.
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    • Profile picture of the author Brandon Tanner
      According to Alexa.com, over 40% of all internet users visit Facebook on a regular basis. Pinterest has been around for 2 years now, and they're hovering around 2% for the same stat. 2% of all internet users is a lot of people, of course, but they're not even close to being in the same league that Facebook is in.

      Even if Pinterest gets a lot more popular, I don't see it as being a "threat" to Facebook, because it serves a completely different purpose than FB does.
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  • Profile picture of the author cashcow
    I think they are two different ways of socializing so I don't see pinterest as a threat. I do see it getting spammier though, unfortunately.
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  • Profile picture of the author DubDubDubDot
    Pinterest and Facebook are two completely different concepts.
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    • Profile picture of the author KidCash
      Originally Posted by DubDubDubDot View Post

      Pinterest and Facebook are two completely different concepts.
      I agree, Facebook and pinterest are two different types of social networks, thus one can't really surpass the other except in traffic.
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  • Profile picture of the author lovecareshare
    Hi, hmm interesting thread..

    My take is that since FaceBook is the most successful social media network and therefore it’s the place to be if you're a business proprietor. If you don’t already have a business page on Facebook for your brand, then you will be totally at a loss, I guess.

    However, you need to pay for your advertisements on Facebook in order to promote your business page, or else you need have a really big network of friends to share your biz info.

    On the other hand, in Pinterest you don’t need to pay for anything, you just need an invite and your brand will be there without you paying a penny for it!

    Other benefits of Pinterest, it’s the best place to keep track of threads on your niche, you will not only know what others are pinning, but you will almost know soon what appeals to people, have better and more engaged audience!


    And also not to count the “Back links” it will drive to your site, all this for free!

    cheers,
    Bobby
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  • Profile picture of the author Steve Foulds
    Agreed. 2 different mediums for socialising...
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  • Profile picture of the author drmani
    Originally Posted by TamilYoung View Post

    With all this, please comment your thoughts on if Pinterest will be a real threat to Facebook?
    Lauren Weinstein is pretty insightful when it comes to seeing 'less than obvious' trends,
    and this recent post has some bearing on this issue:

    Facebook, Instagram, Google, and the Monopoly Fallacy
    Lauren Weinstein's Blog: Facebook, Instagram, Google, and the Monopoly Fallacy

    My gut feeling is that Facebook saw the shadow of a significant potential competitor forming in cyberspace, and decided to nip it in the bud -- while it was still practical to do so just by throwing a chunk of money in the appropriate direction.

    But how could Instagram -- no infrastructure, no income, hardly any employees -- be a threat to the 800-pound gorilla of social networking that is Facebook?

    Zuckerberg isn't my idea of a good role model, but he's nobody's fool.

    He knows full well what many of us have been saying for years -- that disruptive competition on the Web can appear and grow quickly at any time, and will usually be essentially just a single click away for your current users.
    All success
    Dr.Mani
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  • Profile picture of the author MN Warrior
    Even though they're two different ways of socializing it doesn't mean people aren't open to switching ways of socializing.

    It would make sense for people's time on the internet to be more divided among sites when a popular new kid on the block arrives.

    I would hope for Facebook to sink to the level of MySpace but its probably too late for that to ever happen..
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    • Profile picture of the author Giftys
      Originally Posted by MN Warrior View Post


      It would make sense for people's time on the internet to be more divided among sites when a popular new kid on the block arrives.
      Very perceptive and I was going to allude to the same thing. People are busy and when they're deluged with so many choices, they'll go with the things that they identify with and/or have the most fun with. People are "loving" Pinterest so I think they can steal some of Facebook's market share. That said, Facebook was here first and has become woven into people's lives in a much more socially-detailed way. It should be interesting to see how it all unfolds.
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  • Profile picture of the author TamilYoung
    Thanks warriors! I do agree those 2 are two different platforms. But with Facebook trying to buy Flickr from Yahoo, I can only say that Facebook has understood the emerging popularity of Pinterest. As Brandon showed the Alexa rankings of both, Pinterest may not be a threat, but both of them getting to merge the missing features of each other, one day they may be competing really. Who knows?
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  • Profile picture of the author ryuchi
    Well I don't see pinterest as a threat even if they are buying flickr. They might have some other reasons but not because of pinterest.

    I still remember people asking if twitter will outdo facebook and so on and so forth but it didn't. Facebook still has its own unique features that makes people stick with them.

    Ryuchi
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    • Profile picture of the author cashp0wer
      Facebook and Pinterest are two very different animals. The only way Pinterest can be a threat is by gaining more traffic.
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  • Profile picture of the author jaygonsalves
    Twitter is the biggest threat to them all.
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  • Profile picture of the author majorkiller
    I don't think so pinterest is a threat for Facebook... Even Google Plus & Twitter fails to beat them...
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    • Profile picture of the author Aswad
      Originally Posted by majorkiller View Post

      I don't think so pinterest is a threat for Facebook... Even Google Plus & Twitter fails to beat them...
      I agree.. pinterest will need more than pin feature to beat facebook.
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  • Profile picture of the author LuceMk
    according me, pinterest more better from facebook.

    I promote images to pinterest, my blog traffic increases
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  • Profile picture of the author imgeek2727
    Well, in Pinterest you can't really interact with people in the same way that you can on Facebook.

    For instance, currently there is no obvious way to private message someone if you like their posts, all you can do is comment on them but everyone can see. This might change in time and if it does Facebook better watch out because I think they have irritated a lot of people with their arrogance.
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    • Profile picture of the author TamilYoung
      Originally Posted by imgeek2727 View Post

      Well, in Pinterest you can't really interact with people in the same way that you can on Facebook.

      For instance, currently there is no obvious way to private message someone if you like their posts, all you can do is comment on them but everyone can see. This might change in time and if it does Facebook better watch out because I think they have irritated a lot of people with their arrogance.
      I agree Brandon, for interacting with People Pinterest will not match Facebook! But, Pinterest is getting itself evolved to the next best level and when it comes to SEO, this is a good deal too.
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  • Profile picture of the author payment proof
    I don't know if Pinterest a Threat to Facebook, but it's offering some competition.
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  • Profile picture of the author playthetones123
    Referring to Pinterest’s visual content and social sharing capabilities, Pinterest has found their niche that directly competes against Facebook’s photo and video-sharing features.
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  • Profile picture of the author johntan17
    I would say that Pinterest complements Facebook rather than compete with Facebook as the two social media websites do not work entirely in the same way. At Facebook, you can interact more directly with the others by leaving a message but Pinterest is all about posting nice looking high resolution pictures to grab people's attention. As for traffic wise, as mentioned by other warriors, it is easier to get targeted traffic from Pinterest than Facebook and the conversion rate for sales is higher.
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  • Profile picture of the author casablancas
    Woah.

    Nowehere near.
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    • Profile picture of the author cbondcarolina
      For the moment I would say no, but that doesn't mean that they couldn't become more of a threat somewhere down the road.

      As one of the commenters already mentioned, people are really starting to abuse Facebook with spammy accounts, and the general public is starting to pick up on this. It seems that everyday I log in, there are about 5-10 new people "friending"" me that I have never met or heard of in my life. They are clearly just trying to friend me so that they can spam me with marketing offers and the like, and I could see this potentially becoming a major annoyance.

      I like the Pinterest model, which is a more aggressive and thorough review process for anybody requesting a new account. This will definitely help to cut down on some of the spammers that enter their network (though people will always try to find a work-around).

      I think Facebook is getting to a place where they are becoming too large for their own good, which makes it more difficult for them to weed out all of the spammy, useless accounts that enter their network on a daily basis. Despite this, I think the reason that they are still so enormously popular is because they truly offer the best features when it comes to pure, straight-up "social-networking", and I think that reason alone will keep them on top for a long time to come.

      Curtis
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  • Profile picture of the author martinricky
    pinterest is really nice. yes may be in future it will be threat for facebook. I have checked the site sits really good to share links images.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ewan Lumsden
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    I don't think it's a threat at the moment. Maybe in the future, but I still don't see it getting as big as Facebook.
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  • Profile picture of the author BankBen
    I think pinterest is not a treat for facebook..
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  • Profile picture of the author peewhy
    Chalk and cheese.

    Pinterest has a way to go before it evolves into its own indentity, I think there will be a very big shake up with it in the very near future unless its founding fathers can attribute much of its success to internet marketers using it for traffic.

    The great thing about Pinterest is there is no place for conflict and negativity, you can pin, repin and follow ... or not.
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  • Profile picture of the author lukaking032
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    thanks for this
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  • Profile picture of the author lukaking032
    Banned
    i think its not a threat
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  • Profile picture of the author elzafonv
    who knows. the net is ever changing, ever evolving. the social is getting mobile all the time. pinterest is perfect for it. so we'll see...
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  • Profile picture of the author BizEffortsOnline
    They're 2 completely separate ways of socializing.
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  • Profile picture of the author Joan Altz
    Pinterest and Facebook are completely different...

    Why would you compare them?
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  • Profile picture of the author cyberdenizen
    Pinterest is different from Facebook in many ways. For one, Facebook has apps; Pinterest doesn't. My friends who are on Pinterest still use Facebook. Some of them even post their pictures both on Pinterest and on Facebook. People don't necessarily abandon Facebook in favor of Pinterest.
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