Tiny Review makes reviews fun, short, and easy. How Pinterest Changed Website Design Forever. Even if you haven't ever visited popular visual bookmarking site Pinterest, you might recognize its design elements — which have been popping up everywhere since the startup burst onto the mainstream scene in 2011. The site doesn't use traditional web building blocks. "It's almost like a window-shopping mode," says Khoi Vinh, the former design director for NYTimes.com. "It puts the ball back in the user's court," muses Andrew Beck, a web designer at Blue Fountain Media. "It flattens the information hierarchy," describes Jeff Croft, a web designer and co-founder of ebook lending site Lendle. Pinterest puts web content into sticky-note sized blocks users can organize onto pinboards that fill the entire browser screen.
Though the hot Palo Alto startup is staying mum about its user numbers, one study found it drives more traffic to websites than Google+, YouTube and LinkedIn combined. As it has gained in popularity, so too has its unusual design. Consequently, the design caught on. Beyond Facebook: The Rise Of Interest-Based Social Networks. Editor’s Note: This guest post is written by Jay Jamison, a Partner at BlueRun Ventures, who focuses on early stage mobile, consumer and enterprise investments. He also serves on the boards of AppCentral, AppRedeem, Foodspotting, and Thumb. You can follow Jay on Twitter @jay_jamison or read his blog at www.jayjamison.com.
With the pending public offering of Facebook anticipated to be the largest tech IPO in history, it’s an interesting time to think about where we go from here. Some say “social is done,” Facebook is all the social media anyone would ever want or need. Unquestionably, as it nears one billion accounts, in the solar system of social media, Facebook is the Sun — the gravitational center around which everything social revolves. But while some may pronounce that Facebook is all the social we’d ever need, users clearly haven’t gotten the memo. The numbers tell the tale around users’ appetites for these new interest-based social networks. Both. The Verge. AntiMap | Creative toolset for recording & visualising data. Betabeat — News, gossip and intel from Silicon Alley 2.0.
Beta List - Discover upcoming internet startups. Notthisbody. Scobleizer — Searching for world-changing technology. Ars Technica. Techmeme. Technology News and Opinion on The Huffington Post. Engadget. Gizmodo. TechCrunch.