I started using Pinterest recently, and I think it's an interesting medium - with some extremely boring users, mind. It's a different way of sharing and storing your data, and I think its biggest problem is the lack of interesting profiles/pinboards to follow.

I've started using it to store my "bookmarks" for different products that would otherwise have been stored as text-based bookmark links that break, when the URL changes, or the site is taken down - as was the case with a lot of my bookmarks I transferred to Pinterest. It also makes them an order of magnitude faster to browse.

I don't know if the popular content is anything to judge it by, but all of it is basically awful: cookies, cats, dogs, inspirational weightloss quotes, hot dudes, etc., etc. That doesn't mean that it can't be used for something else. If I were a fashion brand, I wouldn't hesitate to display my collections on the website with links to the products, if available. It looks startlingly similar to the shops at http://goodsie.com, and it could be used as a social version of such.

Right now, Pinterest is in dire need of big names and brands to promote their content for it to be remotely interesting, but, like Twitter in its earlier days, I don't think it's very useful to criticize it for the inanity most people post to it, but how it differs as a digital medium. Twitter messages already existed before Twitter as "status updates" in IM messages, and image-only posts already exists as, say, Tumblr posts, but with the complete focus on images (and videos), the browsing experience is vastly difference.

One problem with Pinterest is also that there isn't a big incentive to use it as a fashion blogger, because it's extremely difficult to monetize compared to a regular blog that can be advertised on in a number of ways. Why should a fashion, style, and trendspotter blog migrate to Pinterest? Maybe they can, I don't know, but it seems unappealing right now. In a blog, it's much easier to lock in fans, because the content is not so easily shared. The same can't be said for Pinterest where it only takes a repin to wrest away control of your pin.

If I were Pinterest, I would take some time to:

1. Think about the ways in which Pinterest can be used
that are completely new and not just repetitions of
what we see at Tumblr and imgur.

2. Attract high-profile celebrities and brands.

3. See if it can be used to disrupt the photo-hosting
industry, particularly to be used with sharing on
Twitter. These pictures are usually really difficult to
browse, and Pinterest takes care of that.

The perception of Pinterest as a soccer mom demographic is really hurting the adoption of the website, and the sooner Pinterest addresses this, the better, because it's basically a taboo for men to sign up at the site at this point. (I'm a guy, FWIW.)

Right now, people, myself a few days ago included, regarded the service as Tumblr photo-sharing in one site, but I don't think it's a good idea to look at sites like these as spin-offs from existing types of content creation. Tumblr is not just a Wordpress spin-off, and Twitter is not just an SMS/IM spin-off, and the sooner we look into the ramifications of Pinterest and its popularity the better.