How Do You Feel About Pinterest Promoted Pins?

In a move that seemed inevitable in the world of free Internet services, Pinterest announced it would begin experimenting with ads in the form of promoted pins. The first promoted pins will be just "a few pins in search results and category feeds," according to an email to Pinterest users from CEO and co-founder Ben Silbermann. For example, "a pin for a Darth Vader outfit from a costume shop might be promoted in a search for "Halloween.""

It's not surprising that Pinterest is exploring monetization, what with a group of investors with many millions, including the $100 million in May 2012 led by Rakuten, and including Andreessen Horowitz, Bessemer Venture Partners, and FirstMark Capital, riding on the company.

Silbermann assured Pinterest users that the new promoted pins, "from a select group of businesses," would be "tasteful - no flashy banners or pop-up ads, transparent - we'll always let you know if someone paid for what you see..." and "relevant - these pins should be about stuff you're actually interested in, like a delicious recipe, or a jacket that's your style."

He also said they hoped to keep improving the promoted pins based on users' feedback. "Keep letting us know what you think, and we'll keep working to make things better."

Wherever the Pinterest promoted pins are, the company seems to have kept to their promise that their initial appearance will be modest in scope; I couldn't find any in searches for "Halloween" or "Christmas." And in keeping with that, no Pinterest users seem bothered by the announcement.

From anecdotal evidence I've read on various forum hangouts of online sellers, Pinterest is one of the more effective forms of social media in helping promote their products. So it doesn't seem as if a step to help keep the service free, carefully done, would ruffle any feathers. (And the AuctionBytes Blog has certainly had its share of fun via the service, when we ran the AuctionBytes Blog Collections Contest a while back).

How do you feel about Pinterest introducing promoted pins? Does it bother you in any way, or are you glad the company appears to be striving to keep the service free with this source of revenue? Do you think Pinterest may eventually go the Youtube route, with particularly successful boards by certain companies or individuals gleaning a share of earned revenue from any promoted pins' views? Post a comment here!

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