To those of us who have been watching social media grow over the past few years, there are certain sites that succeed that didn’t quite make sense when they were rising. Looking at Facebook or YouTube, it’s easy to see the appeal, but in the early days many questioned the success potential for other social networks like Twitter (yes, there were actually major doubts just 4 years ago), Foursquare (I remember a discussion about how “nobody would want to take part in getting themselves stalked”), and now Pinterest.

It’s just a photo sharing site, right? Flickr has that market in check for the most part and Facebook is the universal venue for pics of our lives. How did this niche network where people shared recipes and fashion tips explode so quickly? The answer: addiction. It’s easy to get addicted to it, particularly now that it has evolved beyond Chicken Cacciatore and innovative French Braids. To understand why, we look to our friends at Flowtown for the answers.

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