Darby Smart launches crafting kit service to prevent DIY disasters

Darby Smart launched today to prevent mishaps of this sort, and to capitalize on the DIY movement's building momentum. It also announced raising $1 million in seed funding.

Why the half-life of a Pinterest pin is thousands of times longer than a tweet or Facebook post

"Sure, you get 70 percent of your clicks in the first two days," Pinquora CEO Shara Verma told me last week. "But there's a huge long tail. Clicks kept coming all the way for 30 days, and even beyond."

Why the perfectly shareable Pinterest pin is a red or orange close-up product shot

Visual analytics and marketing platform Curalate studied 500,000 images on Pinterest to discover what drives the most likes and repins. The results might surprise you.

Pinterest wants to make money — but not by commodifying your passions

Although it doesn't now make any money, Pinterest is experimenting with plans to monetize its service -- though it is wary of commodifying people's passions, founder Ben Silbermann says.

Social commerce is like a unicorn: beautiful, alluring, and almost totally imaginary

Call it the unicorn problem: beautiful, alluring, magical, and totally non-existent. Social commerce, according to the latest Monetate e-commerce report, is almost as elusive.

Pinterest makes smarter pins and hints at a way to monetize

The powerhouse social site has improved its enviable good looks and upped the IQ of its pins so that everyone, including businesses, can get more out of pinning.

2M Facebook fans better than Super Bowl ad, celeb endorsement … or Twitter followers

Facebook fans are the holy grail of small business, according to a recent study by Staples.

Forget affiliate marketing: Consignd lets you earn more with Pinterest-driven storefronts

Admit it, you've thought about dabbling in affiliate marketing. After all, who wouldn't want to make an extra buck by sharing a few products on their blog or Twitter?

Tracks takes a cue from Pinterest with a new focus on mobile experience discovery

Tracks is making yet another big leap, and it could be its most important one yet.

Pinterest boards receive infusion of Dailymotion videos

Video site Dailymotion has added support for Pinterest, thus making user videos available for play on various pin boards, the company told VentureBeat today.

Are #hashtags geeky? 71% of social media users say no

"Seventy-one percent of consumers say they post hashtags from their mobile devices," RadiumOne VP Kamal Kaur told me yesterday. "I've even caught myself hashtagging in my emails."

What Twitter and Pinterest know about DevOps that you don’t (infographic)

Twitter and Pinterest aren't just hyper-growth social networks with huge user counts and even huger valuations. They're also two key examples of "DevOps," a relatively new way of building and releasing web apps at increasingly high speed.

Pinterest acquihires local recommendations startup Livestar

Pin board social network Pinterest has just acquired local recommendation service Livestar, the company announced today.

Pinterest debuts style makeover with fresh new look, tighter backend

Online scrapbooking site Pinterest unveils its new look, including enhanced navigational and discovery features.

Wantr alerts you when new products arrive at your favorite online shops, gets $600K in funding

Denmark's Wantr, a company that alerts you when your favorite stores get new items, raised $600,000 in seed funding today.

Pinterest launches Web Analytics for brands, takes one giant leap towards monetization

This is huge, because brands like Sephora say their Pinterest followers spend 15 times more than their Facebook fans.

New Tumblr mobile monetization plan: pay-per-view (you pay, they view)

With 74 million daily posts, Tumblr is a big haystack to get lost in. Which is why the company is planning to monetize its mobile product the new old-fashioned way: pay-per-view. You pay, that is, and others view.

If Craigslist was Pinterest, it would look like this app

Craigslist is possibly one of the ugliest sites on the web. But you can experience it as if it was Pinterest, as long as you use Mokriya Craigslist on your smartphone.