Dive summary:
- Pinterest has announced it will start recommending pins to users who use the "Pin It" button on outside websites; this marks the first time the social site will use the wealth of data it has collected from the Pin It buttons.
- While Pinterest's ad business doesn't yet exist, this move is another big step to lay the groundwork for ad revenue down the road; brands could potentially purchase "promoted pins" to appear in front of the network's users who have pinned certain items.
- In conjunction with the tracking announcement, Pinterest made it clear that users can opt out of tracking all together with a "Do Not Track" option that will be available in account settings.
From the article:
"While the company hasn't announced when it will launch ads, it appears to be putting the building blocks in place with key hires over the last several months. In February it hired Steve Patrizi to be head of partner marketing, a role that involves working with brands to help them master best practices for publishing on the platform. Presumably brands that are actively publishing on Pinterest will be more apt to purchase ads from it when the time comes."
