Move over Pinterest, there's a new social media platform on the rise, and this one is focusing on an entirely different angle: money.
New-York based The Fancy is launching their social commerce platform Thursday, according to CNN Money. Using a similar outline and display to online pin-board phenomenon Pinterest, The Fancy allows users to showcase more of what you want -- travel destinations, food and material objects -- rather than what's inspiring or creative. And because the products are "Fancy'd" based on desire, the boards definitely showcase more of a high-tech and, well, fancy scale.
"Instead of thinking of us as a self-expression platform, think of us as really laser-focused on a modern commerce model," said founder Joe Einhorn to CNN Money.
The idea, which has been described as "Groupon in reverse," allows merchants to be more proactive in gaining customer interest and sales. How does it work? When users have pinned, err, "Fancy'd" something, retailers and brands can then provide custom deals and sales directly to the user, and potentially make more sales.
Besides being focused on commerce, The Fancy's gender demographic also heavily differs from Pinterest's registered users. In fact, 60 percent of this new site's users are men, according to TechCrunch, while women made up 97 percent of the people who liked Pinterest's Facebook page. This statistic may be apparent as you click on to each sites' homepage to find, at this very moment, a mishmash of cute Easter printables, brownie cookie cutters and hair tutorials on Pinterest and a luxury all-white hotel room, Audi Sport Quattro S1, and moleskine reporter notebook on The Fancy. However, demographic may mean nothing when it comes to future success, though it should be noted that on a global scale, women spend more time than men on social-networking sites, according to a ComScore report released in 2010. And in the U.S., AdAge reported, women purchase more online, "with 12.5 percent of female internet users making an online purchase in February 2010, compared to 9.3 percent of men."
Additionally, with 250,000 registered users in comparison to Pinterest's 10 million pinners, we wonder how the new social commerce site can compete. Then again, with $18 million from investors, celebrity endorsements from Kanye West and P. Diddy, and one-of-kind creations like a United States-shaped bookshelf and Flying Carpet rug, it's hard not ooh and awe over the high-design and luxury offerings.
Finally, though it may seem like we're inundated with material from photo-sharing sites like Tumblr, Pinterest and, now, The Fancy, as people interested in home decor, design and innovation, can we really say no to another avenue of inspiration? The next color trend or "it" furniture piece may be a pin, Fancy, or click away. So, while this new e-commerce site is making waves through the social media world, we're looking at it as simply another window into your (or at least, participating users') creative souls.
So, tell us: How do you think this new social platform will fare? Will you learn to 'Fancy' it?