However, we are also witnessing the growth of unofficial, ‘earned’ routes to market. Content curation platforms are starting to act as important referrers in this new world. Sites like Polyvore, Svpply and Pinterest have affected a massive swing toward product-pinning and scrapbooking. In February 2012, Pinterest, with only 5.3m ‘invite only’ active users, referred more people to other websites than Twitter. Browsing curated collections has become a compelling way to discover new products and, as collections are created by real people, they come equipped with social accreditation which is a marketer’s dream. - Tom Himpe