Person of Pinterest is a new weekly feature in which we highlight people making new and innovative use of everyone’s favorite image sharing board. Today we profile Cara Friedman, a social media expert who’s stretching the pinboard in new ways.
Two weeks.
That’s how long Cara Friedman said she’s been involved in the Pinterest community. But in that time, she’s adjusted the frequently design-oriented Pinterest experience to suit her own interests: pop culture and social media.
The general manager for marketing firm Likeable Media, Friedman’s company recently advised her to give the social network a try.
“Since our clients look to us to be their social media experts, we’re all encouraged to use new social media so we can teach it,” she told the Daily Dot. “Right now, Pinterest is a hot topic, so I’ve latched onto that.”
Friedman wishes she’d joined sooner, but her later start has given her an advantage over many early adapters. Since Friedman is new to the game, she’s not constrained by the same invisible rules that tell many of us to pin only clothes, recipes and interior design out of habit.
“My first impression was that it’s definitely for women, with weddings, food ideas, and workout tips. All those things are great, but they’re not what my primary focus is on,” she said.
As it turns out, Friedman’s primary focus is on pop culture. On her personal blog, 25 Hours In A Day, the New Yorker writes book and movie reviews. She watches a lot of movies—several each weekend—and doesn’t have time to review every single one.
Her Movie Ratings pinboard lets her cover more movies with much less effort. She limits most reviews to just two words (“five stars,” for example) and links the movies with long reviews back to her blog.
“Not all movies are worth writing a big review on. This is an easy way to give my opinion really quickly,” she said. “I’ve also seen boards that put in a whole bunch of text on each pin, but for me, the shorter the better.”
As a social media expert, Friedman says she sees extensive potential in Pinterest for integration with other communities. She made a visual resume for herself by combining her LinkedIn credentials with images and logos on her LinkedIn on Pinterest board. She keeps track of current events by listing top trending topics on Twitter by date on Trending Topics. And she’d really, really like Pinterest to create a plugin for blogs.
“I would love for Pinterest to have a feature for users to embed pins and pinboards into blog posts. I’ve actually written a blog post about it and emailed Pinterest,” she said.
It can be tough to be an innovator on Pinterest. Friedman hasn’t found anyone doing what’s she’s doing with Pinterest (and neither have we.) But she has found a variety of pop culture, current events, and social media boards to follow for inspiration. She filters out the rest.
“I’m never going to cook, it’s just not going to happen. So I unfollow cooking boards until I phase them all out of my feed,” she said.
Friedman’s technique has turned a community that many see as frilly and feminine into one that is suited to her specific interests. But, like Drew Hawkins’ Board of Man last week, her presence makes the network all the more welcoming of diversity.
