Many successful websites and apps spawn a cluster of imitators.
After Instagram caught fire, mobile apps with various effects
and filtering techniques flooded the Apple and Android markets.
Some of them are quite innovative and cool – particularly
PhotoForge 2 and Wordfoto. None came close to matching
the Instagram growth juggernaut.
After Instagram caught fire, mobile apps with various effects
and filtering techniques flooded the Apple and Android markets.
Some of them are quite innovative and cool – particularly
PhotoForge 2 and Wordfoto. None came close to matching
the Instagram growth juggernaut.
But perhaps the most brazen – and amusing – case of radical
copycatting I have ever seen is the way Pinterest has been
mirrored by an aggressive “parasite” over the past two months.
Pinterest is perhaps the biggest web phenomenon of this winter.
The site hit 11 Million unique users during one December week
alone. Alexa now pegs it as the 32nd most popular website in
the United States. Visitors spend more than 11 minutes on the
site daily, crushing Twitter on this metric by more than 50%.
copycatting I have ever seen is the way Pinterest has been
mirrored by an aggressive “parasite” over the past two months.
Pinterest is perhaps the biggest web phenomenon of this winter.
The site hit 11 Million unique users during one December week
alone. Alexa now pegs it as the 32nd most popular website in
the United States. Visitors spend more than 11 minutes on the
site daily, crushing Twitter on this metric by more than 50%.
----------------------------
Forbes (January22,2k12)Tero Kuittinen, is a Forbes Contributor
He covers mobile hardware, software and gaming.
Twitter: @teroterotero
Twitter: @teroterotero
— Reposted here by Techknowlb
general editor, refWrite backpage
----------------------------------
Pinterest is pure catnip for mature women. Wedding tips, babies
in funny poses, mason jar decoration ideas, cake recipes and
exercise slogans drive the site. The runaway success of
Pinterest probably demonstrates how much most mainstream
websites cater to male visitors. There had been some kind of
unmet demand for a site
combining hair-braiding advice
with hedgehog babies in rubber
boots. Pinterest filled this
vacuum
combining hair-braiding advice
with hedgehog babies in rubber
boots. Pinterest filled this
vacuum
highly effectively.
And as the highest
form of flattery,
Pinterest is now
shadowed by one
of the purest parasites ever. Something called
Pinspire copies the look, feel and functionality of Pinterest almost perfectly.
There is even what seems to be a very carefully calibrated
guerrilla marketing campaign – many of the new Pinterest
posts are now followed by a polite, complimentary note:
“Absolutely adorable! Can I pin this on my board at
pin spire .com?” These notes flatter the original pinner,
while directing traffic to Pinspire. They appear to be crafted
to land just on the right side of the line defining raw spam.
The spelling of these notes recently changed from “pinspire”
to “pin spire”, indicating possible evasion from
countermeasures.
guerrilla marketing campaign – many of the new Pinterest
posts are now followed by a polite, complimentary note:
“Absolutely adorable! Can I pin this on my board at
pin spire .com?” These notes flatter the original pinner,
while directing traffic to Pinspire. They appear to be crafted
to land just on the right side of the line defining raw spam.
The spelling of these notes recently changed from “pinspire”
to “pin spire”, indicating possible evasion from
countermeasures.
And they are driving healthy growth of Pinspire. Alexa now
ranks Pinspire as roughly the number 13’000 site in America,
up from being number 100’000 in early January. This matches
the ranking of established, high-quality niche sites like Silicon
Investor, Gamerankings or Calculated Risk – sites that took
years to build and required vast amounts of content to claw their
way to the middle.
ranks Pinspire as roughly the number 13’000 site in America,
up from being number 100’000 in early January. This matches
the ranking of established, high-quality niche sites like Silicon
Investor, Gamerankings or Calculated Risk – sites that took
years to build and required vast amounts of content to claw their
way to the middle.
Pinspire rocketed to this level in less than three months – and
requiring little or no original design or content work. Judging
from the latest wave of Pinspire redirect notes on Pinterest
right now, the parasite just might stage another growth burst
in coming months. The youth of Pinterest is probably what
enables the parasitic competition – many consumers are only
now discovering Pinterest and thus do not have much brand
loyalty. It will be interesting to see where this saga is heading
next.
requiring little or no original design or content work. Judging
from the latest wave of Pinspire redirect notes on Pinterest
right now, the parasite just might stage another growth burst
in coming months. The youth of Pinterest is probably what
enables the parasitic competition – many consumers are only
now discovering Pinterest and thus do not have much brand
loyalty. It will be interesting to see where this saga is heading
next.
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