How will you ever figure out what to do with social media when everything is constantly changing? Are the expectations and methods outdated before you get to use them? The breathtakingly rapid rise of a new social network this season, Pinterest, makes that fear acute for many clients I talk to.

According to TechCrunch earlier this month,

"It’s beautiful, it’s addictive, and now Pinterest is having its glorious hockey stick moment. TechCrunch has attained exclusive data from comScore showing Pinterest just hit 11.7 million unique monthly U.S. visitors, crossing the 10 million mark faster than any other standalone site in history."

Some are even saying that the visual nature of Pinterest is going to permanently challenge the attractiveness of blogs as desirable and sharable content for brand building.

3 months ago I had never heard of Pinterest. Had you?

Know What You Want to Accomplish

Social is more important than ever now as the world of business and communication changes faster and faster. By 'social' I don't mean social media business or any other buzzword.

What I mean is that when your goal is to build relationships with real people and bring them into your community to buy your products and feed your shared interests, you can't lose.

Evaluate every new platform, tool, and trend on its ability to accomplish this goal.

Is Pinterest Social?

Pinterest is a fantastic medium for curating visual content. It allows us to share content we like easily, so in that sense it is social.

But we don't talk to each other on Pinterest (yet) and that is a major drawback. When I get a notice that someone has shared my pin I can't thank them like I might on Twitter. There's no way to start a conversation based on something shared on Pinterest, unless it is fed into a more social channel like Facebook.

The point is that Pinterest is not scary and neither will any new social platform be if you learn how to build relationships and community online. Then new platforms are just new ways to connect and our online lives become easier and richer.

Does the constant change in social media scare you? Here are a few useful links if you'd like to know more about this explosive new phenomenon: