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Image is everything. Don't believe me? Just take a look at social media's next big thing: Pinterest.

Pinterest serves as an online bulletin board where users simply “pin” their interests. For example, while planning their wedding, some brides-to-be have created their own bulletin board titled “Wedding Ideas.” After downloading the “Pin It” app, they are free to search the Internet for images of gowns, hair styles and flowers they love―kind of like a wish list. However, they also can use the site as a sharing device by “repinning” other Pinterest members' images. Other people might create bulletin boards called “Favorite Recipes,” “Ideas for the Home,” “My Style,” etc. When all is said and done, users are left with boards of colorful, pretty pictures and perhaps some new followers.

Pinterest launched in 2010. I'll admit, I never heard of the site until late last year when I noticed mysterious Pinterest-related posts from friends appear in my Facebook newsfeed (sorry, I guess “ticker” would be the proper term). Luckily, I wasn't alone in my ignorance. In his article, “How Pinterest is Becoming the Next Big Thing in Social Media for Business,” Jason Falls cited some recent statistics published in a report from Cambridge, Massachusetts-based content-sharing site Shareaholic. According to the study, Pinterest registered more than 7 million unique visitors in December 2011 (up from 1.6 million in September 2011). In addition, the site is driving more trafffic to company websites and blogs than YouTube, Google+ (is that still around?) and LinkedIn―wait for it....COMBINED.

Is there a place for Pinterest in this industry? Maybe. If you're a small business (or any business for that matter) looking for a fresh marketing approach, take a look at Falls' article in Entrepreneur. Let me know your thoughts on the site. What do you use Pinterest for?