Pinterest making Money from Pins

 The Pinterest similar to other Social Networks that came early, appears to be doing a few things behind the scenes. Pinterest is really entertaining but I haven't seen any ads on this sites. Then HOW do they generate revenue?.  So they are generating income by using an affiliate program.


So we conducted some studies on Pinterest and noticed that they have been appending affiliate links to  some of the pins. If someone clicks on this link Pinterest earns some Revenue,  It's to be noted that most of the links are featured by the Online Shopping Websites and those who visits the site through Pinterest and buy goods helps Pinterest earns money. 


Pinterest modifies the user submitted Pins!!  Now the Big Question is How many of you have actually read their "Terms & Conditions" before signing up ? 


Here is What Pinterest says in their Terms & Conditions : 

you hereby grant to Cold Brew Labs a worldwide, irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, royalty-free license, with the right to sublicense, to use, copy, adapt, modify, distribute, license, sell, transfer, publicly display, publicly perform, transmit, stream, broadcast, access, view, and otherwise exploit such Member Content

The Pinterest is able to do this across their site by using the service skimlinks. This service is rather innovative that they automatically go through the website and add affiliate links wherever there is a link to a product. This way Pinterest is taking an unique path of generating revenue in its early path. 


It is of great news as Pinterest is earning money while it is still in the beta version. It is absolutely the norm for rapidly growing web sites and services aimed at consumers. 


The Skimlinks CEO Alicia Navarro says : 

With respect to FTC rules on disclosure of affiliate links, the law is that any content creator that is *endorsing* or *recommending* something and obtaining financial benefit as a result of this endorsement, needs to disclose it. In this case, Pinterest are not pushing people to buy something because they get paid for it, they provide a platform that drives traffic to retailers and they are being rewarded for providing that service.

But most people believe that Pinterest should have been more clear about their practice. Navarro states that Pinterest have been using Skimlinks for over a year, and that this has always been a form of monetization. 


The Pinterest has now become the web's hottest Social Network CEO of Webmedia Group Amy Webb told to CNN " I would think that they would let people know from the beginning that the thing's they  are posting potentially carry affiliate links. But it's a Free Network and No Free Network carries zero cost".