Publishers! Stop Flirting With Pinterest

Pinterest is supposed to be like a great big virtual pin board, and, when you think about it, it's surprising consumer magazines have not embraced the social media site with more gusto. Sure, we've heard plenty about Pinterest as a marketing tool and traffic-driver, but 'cmon, magazine publishers—this is not just another "platform." Pictures, articles, pull quotes, graphics—grab 'em and share 'em! This is your bailiwick! This is not the time to be agnostic, neutral, trans-something or cross-whatever. Pinterest and you were meant for each other, so stop with the tweeting and figure out new ways to fold this quintessentially magazine-like experience into what you do!

As it happens, there's a new tool out there that falls squarely in the what-took-'em-so-long category. Digital publishing platform MAZ has introduced a "clippings" feature that lets iPad readers use their fingers like digital scissors, cutting bits of pages to post and share.

“We understand the huge benefit for iPad readers to pin things from the pages of a magazine directly to Pinterest, so instead of waiting for something official to be released, we went ahead and figured a way to integrate with Pinterest ourselves," Paul Canetti, Founder and CEO of MAZ, says in a press release.

It works with Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest, but the possibilities are especially exciting for the latter two, because it allows for the spontaneity of choosing and collecting exactly what a reader wants from the page of a digital edition. Maybe you like a model's hairstyle, or maybe her handbag—it's up to you what to focus in on and clip. Include a headline or caption—or not. That old feeling of intimate interaction with a favorite publication is restored in a way that simply selecting a static photo cannot.

Of course, unlike in the old rip-and-tack-days, what is clipped can also be tracked, so publishers know exactly what's popular with whom. It combines the best qualities of the old and the new.