I've learned to be careful about predicting which social media channels will gain traction and which will die away or just languish. I predicted, very wrongly as it turns out, that Twitter would be one of many to offer the functions of microblogging. Instead, Twitter is quite firmly established as the most significant new communication channel for communicators since, well, perhaps email.
I've been watching Pinterest with interest. It may break records for fast growth as a social media channel. But, when I checked it out a couple of months ago it was pretty much dominated by what might be considered the more modern version of scrap bookers. Definitely saw its application for my daughter, one of the top food bloggers in the world. Already she has more than a hundred followers on her pinterest site.
Not until I saw Patrice Cloutier sign up and start using it did I "get it" at all. It seems there may be application for those of us in crisis communication after all.
The big thing I see in this site is its highly visual content, its simple organization, its ease of posting, and its natural, ingrained sharing. The bad thing is that it is, well, one more thing. Now we've got Google+ to contend with alongside Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, Reddit, Digg, and I could go on. Can we really handle one more? The point is that it is not up to us. It is up to our audiences. If they decide Pinterest is where they want to go for crisis and emergency communication, you and I will not have a choice. That's why its so important to keep watching these things. Thank goodness for people like Patrice who keep paving the way and keep us informed.
