It looks like the folks at Pinterest.com shook their heads a little and decided it was time to open up invitations vs. getting an invite.

Let’s figure this one out.  It’s a social clipboard of sorts.  You pin cool things to a board.  It has proven wildly popular with women.  But here’s the catch. You’re creating a bunch of crowd-sourced content for a third-party platform.  And they don’t have a revenue model. Or do they?

Hint. Hint.  No surprise.  Pinterest uses Skimlinks for social discovery.  Don’t believe me? Then read it from the horse’s mouth:  Skimlinks.  Kind of fair, no?  They have to pay the bills you know.  Or they could charge you (yeah right) or …wait, a revolutionary new model.  An advertising platform to target Pinterest users…. sigh.

So why the sudden change in Pinterest policy?  Yes, we know they picked up a couple of Facebook execs recently. (Read here) Was the policy change the result of the new recruits? Possible since they picked up Facebook’s VP, online operations.

Or is there a darker reason?  Well, you see.  There’s another kid on the block.  This one came right under my own radar and I do read a lot.  This new kid is called Fancy.com.  It kind of does similar things.  You collect, you share, you discover and you “unlock deals”.  Ah, so you can discover and share things and actually purchase something.  That kind of makes sense. 

Sounds a lot like Google’s Zero Moment of Truth:

“Consumer decision-making prior to the actual moment of in-store or online purchase — the so-called “Zero Moment of Truth” — has become increasingly relevant.”

But here’s the bigger piece of the puzzle.  What happens if you also add a little more to this fancy stuff.  Like rumours that Apple plans to buy Fancy.com. 

KACHING! KACHING!

Fancy.com describes itself as “part store, blog, magazine and wishlist”. Seems like a perfect addition when you consider something else from Apple. Apple’s Passbook (See TechCrunch)  or its existing 1-click iTunes payment system or some combination.  With 400 million active accounts with credit cards on file, seems like an amazing social network platform for discovery, share, interaction and e/m-commerce!

And guess who’s big into e-commerce? Amazon.  Jeff Bezo and company invented affiliate marketing and drive tons of business through the affiliate channel for everything…not just books.

Fancy that!

Related articles

• Rumor: Apple looking at buying The Fancy (electronista.com)
• Social Commerce, Pinterest And The Future Of Fashion Retail (techcrunch.com)
• Pintics’ Founders Create ShopInterest, A “Shopify For Pinterest” (techcrunch.com)
• Pinterest Finally Ditches Invitations, Now Lets Anyone Sign Up (techcrunch.com)
• Take A Look At ‘The Fancy’ App Made By The Company Apple Is Interested In Buying (AAPL) (businessinsider.com)
• Apple in talks to acquire e-commerce social network The Fancy? (9to5mac.com)
• You’re Sending Out Fancy Invitations, I’m Pinning Things To An Imaginary Board (thoughtcatalog.com)
• Three Reasons Fancy Fits Millennials More Than Pinterest Does (mpdailyfix.com)
• Pinterest ditches invite-only approach, is now open for all to join (thenextweb.com)
• SellPin.com Launches First Pin-to-Pin Selling Platform for Pinterest Users (prweb.com)