Pinterest

Pinterest announced its first acquisition today and it's one for the foodies: Punchfork, a visual bookmarking site focused on sharing recipes.

Punchfork CEO Jeff Miller said he is joining the engineering team at Pinterest and shutting down the Punchfork site and apps soon.

"Initially, support for Punchfork will continue, but we will soon be retiring the Punchfork site, API and mobile apps," Miller wrote in a note to the Punchfork community. "We believe that a unified destination benefits our users in the long run, and the Punchfork team will focus on contributing to Pinterest as the … Read more

Pinterest and one of its early investors have been sued by a man who alleges that the investor nicked his ideas -- including the concept of boards -- and handed them to the now hugely popular Web site.

The suit alleges that the plaintiff, Theodore F. Schroeder, of Ocean City, N.J., developed a site called RendezVoo, which started as a place where users could share their locations but evolved into a site where people "meet to share opinions, views, items, and tastes on a variety of subjects -- product, services, events, politics, economics -- nearly anything of human … Read more

Facebook started testing another version of its Pinterest-like Collections feature today, adding more retailers and testing out a few more buttons.

In addition to buttons for "collect" and "want," Facebook is testing the words "save," "add," and "Wishlist." Users will see different words depending on which test group they are in. A Facebook spokeswoman said the company is using the latest test -- which follows one in October that debuted the feature for businesses -- to understand how people interact with and share the items from a Collection to their … Read more

President Obama is increasing his administration's social media presence by moving the White House onto Pinterest.

While the president already has a Pinterest account in his own name, used primarily to support his re-election campaign, the White House account will be used to post images and information relating to life inside 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

"It's the 'People's House,'" First Lady Michelle Obama said in a WhiteHouse.gov blog post. "It's a place that is steeped in history, but it's also a place where everyone should feel welcome. And that's why my … Read more

Pinterest is getting into the holiday spirit -- and holiday marketing -- today by launching a calendar that features a new holiday-themed board for the next 30 business days.

The calendar, dubbed "30 Days of Pinspiration," will run through the New Year. First up is TV show host and journalist Katie Couric with a board sharing her Thanksgiving traditions. It's all very warm and fuzzy.

"Every year for Thanksgiving, Katie and her family put together a great spread to celebrate their time together and give thanks," according to the Pinterest blog. "Katie's taken … Read more

"It's business, not personal."

That's the message from Pinterest today. Taking another step to cash in on its growing popularity, the company began allowing users to transfer their existing accounts to business accounts.

As Liz Gannes points out smartly, this represents a change in the company's terms of service. But it's hardly a shocker given the company's blistering growth. In September, Pinterest made it onto Comscore's monthly ranking of the 50 most visited Internet sites as it surpassed 25 million visitors for the month.

The company's moves are an invitation to … Read more