CEO:Pinterest不是社交網(wǎng)站
????在今年的《財(cái)富》科技頭腦風(fēng)暴大會(huì)上,《財(cái)富》撰稿人艾琳·格里菲斯向Pinterest首席執(zhí)行官本·西爾伯曼提的第一個(gè)問(wèn)題非常簡(jiǎn)單。 ????Pinterest是社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)嗎? ????西爾伯曼猶豫了一下,抬頭看了看熾熱的舞臺(tái)燈,然后做出了回答。他告訴現(xiàn)場(chǎng)觀眾,Pinterest是一個(gè)“點(diǎn)子目錄”,“和社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)有非常大的差異”。他說(shuō),二者的目標(biāo)不同——人們把照片上傳到社交網(wǎng)站上是為了讓別人喜歡這些照片;在Pinterest,這樣做則是為自己服務(wù)。 ????西爾伯曼說(shuō):“我們希望別人看到我們網(wǎng)站上的好點(diǎn)子后將其付諸實(shí)踐?!彼裀interest比作一本針對(duì)用戶的 “手工編撰目錄”。 ????這就解釋了該公司最近涉足電子商務(wù)的原因。這家初創(chuàng)企業(yè)坐擁巨額資金,最新的數(shù)字是110億美元,這讓它成為《財(cái)富》評(píng)選的十大獨(dú)角獸公司之一。Pinterest正在尋找值得夸耀的收入源,而最好的辦法就是推動(dòng)這個(gè)“目錄”概念進(jìn)一步商業(yè)化。 ????西爾伯曼表示:“我們真的非常了解人們開始制定計(jì)劃時(shí)的情況”。(他還說(shuō),盡管女性在Pinterest的用戶中仍占多數(shù),但男性用戶是增長(zhǎng)最快的群體;國(guó)外用戶也是如此,40%的Pinterest用戶都在美國(guó)以外,而且這個(gè)數(shù)字還在上升。) ????不過(guò),西爾伯曼承認(rèn),交易方面的工作尚未完成。他說(shuō):“這是個(gè)相當(dāng)難的問(wèn)題?!痹赑interest上購(gòu)買產(chǎn)品或服務(wù)應(yīng)當(dāng)是個(gè)流暢的過(guò)程,“簡(jiǎn)單、輕松而且愉快”。但和成千上萬(wàn)的商家打交道可不是什么小事情。西爾伯曼說(shuō):“做好這件事需要時(shí)間?!盤interest從去年夏天開始著手這方面的工作。 ????西爾伯曼透露,目前Pinterest還沒(méi)有從自家網(wǎng)站上進(jìn)行的交易中抽取費(fèi)用。這項(xiàng)業(yè)務(wù)處于成長(zhǎng)狀態(tài)。他說(shuō):“我們希望為產(chǎn)品和服務(wù)供應(yīng)商建立一個(gè)平臺(tái),幫助他們?nèi)接觸]客戶。人們?yōu)g覽我們網(wǎng)站的原因是他們希望從自己的生活中找到靈感?!蹦敲碢interest正通過(guò)其他途徑創(chuàng)收嗎,比如“推廣圖釘”(Promoted Pins)?西爾伯曼答道,他們正在這樣做。 ????他說(shuō):“廣告這個(gè)詞帶有負(fù)面意味。許多廣告真的都很糟糕,很難看,有損受眾的體驗(yàn)。我們希望“推廣圖釘”會(huì)讓用戶覺(jué)得這是他們想要的創(chuàng)意?!彼赋觯瑥纳虡I(yè)角度講,“想投放廣告的人可以考慮的平臺(tái)有很多”,而Pinterest希望幫助他們更好地了解這個(gè)網(wǎng)站,以便他們?yōu)橛脩魟?chuàng)造出更好的東西。 ????Pinterest的員工已經(jīng)超過(guò)500人,而且這個(gè)數(shù)字仍在上升。在設(shè)法創(chuàng)收的同時(shí),Pinterest想過(guò)IPO嗎?西爾伯曼說(shuō),沒(méi)有,“短期內(nèi)我們沒(méi)有上市計(jì)劃?!彼f(shuō),上市公司要有可預(yù)期的收入。而結(jié)論是,Pinterest不具備這個(gè)條件。 ????西爾伯曼表示,眼下他們的首要任務(wù)是海外擴(kuò)張,比如西歐、日本和巴西,讓用戶更好地進(jìn)行發(fā)現(xiàn),同時(shí)擴(kuò)大收入源。 ????不過(guò),Pinterest已經(jīng)做出了最簡(jiǎn)單的決定,那就是要以圖像為主。西爾伯曼說(shuō):“再多技術(shù)也不會(huì)改變一個(gè)事實(shí),那就是人通過(guò)視覺(jué)來(lái)處理信息?!保ㄘ?cái)富中文網(wǎng)) ????譯者:Charlie ????校對(duì):詹妮 |
????Fortune writer Erin Griffith kicked off her interview with Pinterest CEO Ben Silbermann by asking a very simple question. ????Is Pinterest a social network? ????Silbermann paused, glanced up at the hot stage lights, and responded. ????Pinterest is a “catalog of ideas,” he told attendees at this year’s Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference. “I think that’s a very different thing than a social network.” The objectives of the two are different, he said. On a social network, you upload photos for other people to like. Pinterest, on the other hand, is self-serving. ????“Our hope is that when we show you the right idea you go out and do that thing,” he said. He likened Pinterest to “a catalog that’s hand-picked” for his users. ????Which explains the company’s recent foray into “Buy” buttons. The highly-funded startup—$11 billion at last count, putting it in the top 10 on Fortune‘s Unicorn List—is in search of revenue worth crowing about. The best way to do it is to encourage the more commercial aspects of that catalog concept. ????“We have a really clear understanding when people begin to plan events,” Silbermann said. (He added that while the majority of his users remain women, men are its fastest-growing segment. As is international: 40% of Pinterest users live outside the U.S. and the number is growing.) ????But transactions are still a work in progress for the company, Silbermann allowed. “It’s a pretty hard problem,” he said. Buying a product or service through Pinterest should feel seamless—“easy and light and fun.” But working with “thousands” of merchants is no small undertaking. “It took time to do it right,” he said. Pinterest began working on the effort last summer. ????Today, Pinterest takes no cut of transactions it processes, Silbermann said. It’s in growth mode. “We want to create a platform for product and service providers to [reach] customers,” he said. “People go to Pinterest because they’re looking for inspiration from their life.” ????And as for Promoted Pins, the company’s other revenue-generating effort? It’s coming along, Silbermann said. ????“Advertising has a bad word associated with it,” he said. “A lot of ads really suck. They’re really ugly. They detract from the experience. You want Promoted Pins to feel like the ideas you want to make your own.” ????On the business side, “advertisers have a lot of platforms to think about,” he added. Pinterest wants to help them understand Pinterest better so that they create something better for users. ????With all of these revenue-generating efforts afoot, is Pinterest—more than 500 employees strong and still growing—thinking about an IPO? No, Silbermann said. “We don’t have any short-term plans to go public.” Public companies have predictable revenue, he said. The inference: Pinterest does not. ????For now, priorities are international expansion—western Europe, Japan, and Brazil, he said—improving discovery and building out the money machine. ????But the easiest decision for Pinterest is already made: making it image-focused. Said Silbermann: “No amount of technology is going to change the fact that people process information visually.” |
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