The Fancy Threatens Pinterest in the World of New Social Bookmarking

Oh, you’re not still using Pinterest, are you? Everyone is totally on The Fancy now.

Okay, it’s not that bad- Pinterest is still blazing a massive trail through the social web and gaining scads of new users every day. But The Fancy is similar and gaining on Pinterest, with a slightly different methodology- both from an end user standpoint and for the business end of things.

Apparently, according to founder Joe Einhorn, The Fancy works kind of like a “reverse Groupon.” The Business Insider explains:

“Instead of Groupon where the company tells you what to buy and the price, people can decide what they want and merchants can fill that demand with a self-service bid system.”

For users, the difference is somewhat aesthetic, and somewhat performance related. Many of the products listed are indeed fancy, although the moniker seems to stem from the more British usage of the word- items that catch your eye can be “fancied” and collected. And there is where one of the main advantages over Pinterest that’s immediately palpable comes into play- fancied items are automagically categorized and fancy as they may be (floating hot tubs, granite bathrooms with multiple showerheads, expensive booze), the system seems to separate them out with stunning accuracy.

While it’s a bit early to see if The Fancy will catch on as well as Pinterest has for users, stats indicate that behaviors indicate a slightly more mindful base of users that make the competition look like a bit of a re-pinning orgy. VentureBeat breaks down the stats:

Pinterest: 11,000,000 registered users with 32,400,000 pins.
The Fancy: 250,000 registered users with 16,700,000 fancies.

That’s 66.8 fancies, or dare we say “pins” per person, on The Fancy versus approximately 3 per person on Pinterest. The Fancy has also had 1 million fancies in the last 7 days (150,000/day) and 100-200,000 unique visitors per day.

It’s also entirely possible that both services will occupy different spaces- The Fancy is far less accessible than Pinterest, with the latter trafficking in lots of folksy, home-y type pins and fancies tending to be of the haute design ilk. Still, the likeliest outcome of all is more of us sinking time into additional, addictive services. Have you pitted The Fancy against Pinterest yet?

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Tags: Jack Dorsey, Pinterest, Social Bookmarking, Social Commerce, The Fancy

About the Author

Kim LaCapria Kim LaCapria is a writer and editor based in New York. A longtime information junkie, she began blogging full-time at the Inquisitr in 2009. Prior to that, she worked as a marketing assistant in the cosmetics and skincare industry. In addition to her writing for fortytwotimes, she also writes for Medacity and The Inquisitr. Kim is also a contributor for SocialNewsDaily, Indyposted, and TotallyMoney. In the past, she contributed to Lipstick and Luxury and managed social media accounts and blogs for several small and mid-sized businesses.