Inspiration is a raw material from which great things are made. I will be joining a San Francisco company that is out to make the world more inspired.
Search for "red chair" on Google. Search for "red chair" on Pinterest. While Google through its algorithms is able to give me things which are chairs in name and undoubtedly red, something is missing. The results are hollow. By contrast, the Pinterest results are rich and full of life. There is a human quality to every single image you view on the site. Like Google, there are red chairs. But unlike Google, there are also guides to making my chairs red, settings in which red chairs look stunning, and chairs crafted from other red things. You walk away from a Pinterest search full of ideas.
That's the magic of Pinterest.
As a web site, Pinterest's <title> tag says "Discover and save creative ideas." This is Pinterest as we know it today. "Discover" neatly captures the searching and browsing facets of the site, while "save" encapsulates the entire pinning ecosystem. The story is not completely told. Every Pin has an end state where a user clicks through the image and is taken off of Pinterest into a world that is significantly less inspiring.
To answer "what do I do with this Pin" is to focus the raw inspiration that Pinterest creates and channel it into action. Organically, this is already emerging through the community as DIY Pins and tutorials. Through these, people are creating amazing things. The unspoken opportunity is that Pinterest can help facilitate this inspiration into action.
Ultimately, to "put pinners first" is to make them successful. Pinners pin because they want to do something. The ability to help them accomplish their goals rests solely with the company that inspired them to begin with.
That's a mission I feel particularly inspired by and I'm proud to be joining the team at Pinterest.