What N.E.R.D used to be.

One of Pinterest’s key advantages is that it doesn’t need to “internationalize” with various languages. The pictures can spread naturally.

— Semil (@semil) May 17, 2012

Images are languageless.

With its masonry layout Pinterest turns images into stories. The layout of the board is just as important as the images in it.

Pinterest will expand outside the US faster than Instagram mainly because it’s less focused on original content and more focused on curation and sharing.  The “Pin it” button also feels like a piece the web browsing experience, as does Twitter on mobile.

Pinterest still needs some mobile work.  Right now an image pinned on the mobile browser redirects you to its app where it’s difficult to pin and credit the source.  All editing occurs on the desktop.

The Internet is a pinnable copy-paste machine. And the world could be Pinterest oyster.

Sit back and watch it grow.

An app that revolves around the sun.  Now I just got to get out for more walks.

From the best hip hop label in the world.

Chris Dixon writes that Facebook is mostly a place to socialize with friends.

You can put billboards all over a park, and maybe sometimes you’ll happen to convert people from non-purchasing to purchasing intents. But you end up with a cluttered park, and not very effective advertising. 

People don’t use Facebook with the intention to shop but most people don’t watch TV with shopping intention either.  Yet, one commercial can get us to buy just as one Facebook ad in the corner of our eye may grab our attention and make us reach for our wallets.

Facebook’s DNA is purely social.  Still, Zuckerberg had no choice to monetize it through advertising.  For the most part Facebook does a decent job in making the ads non-invasive.  There’s no pop-ups, no pre-rolls, just display ads.

Nevertheless, keeping Facebook clean without disrupting the conversation and making advertisers happy (see General Motors pull out) is its greatest challenge because Facebook can’t do both.  The users are the priority.

Wall Street expects Facebook to maximize revenue on desktop and mobile.  Whether that’s through smarter advertising, Facebook app’s store, coupons or Facebook credits remains to be seen.  Are you bullish?