Pinterest President: We're Not a Social Network, We're Unique

Content-sharing service Pinterest, which allows members to pin images and videos to their own boards, doesn’t consider itself to be just another social media website. The company president says its focus on buying and sharing new ideas gives them a unique position.

“Pinterest isn’t a social network; we are really this catalogue of ideas,” said Pinterest President Tim Kendall to the FOX Business Network’s Deirdre Bolton.

He also thinks this will give the company a big push in areas of the world like China, where social media sites are blocked from Internet users.

“They are not there to share things with their friends and family, they are not there to find out what their friends and family are doing. So it’s not this community planning tool,” he said.

Even though Pinterest is not a direct competitor with Google or Facebook, Kendall says they are making sure to get a piece of the projected $30 billion ad-dollar market by focusing on “building a great product and service.”

“Marketers want to be where people want to find them… What we see is a disproportionate number of our users come on to Pinterest to look for products and ideas and services. In fact, based on [Mary Meeker’s] data, 55% say they come to Pinterest for products and services and to shop. Only about 12% go to social networks for that purpose,” he said.