Pinterest Debuts Buyable Pins

Hours of productivity have lost their lives to one powerful social media platform: Pinterest. The site was dangerous enough before, but now the uber-popular social media platform has created buyable pins. Hide your credit cards, ladies and gentlemen.

Pinterest finally rolled out their long-awaited "buy" option for the site. Now, users can shop their products by clicking their "pinned" images, and then choose a size, color, and quantity. Users can then click the "buy" button to complete the transaction using a credit card or by paying with Apple Pay through their iPhones. Neither shoppers nor merchants will have to pay to shop or sell on the site.

Pinterest debuted the new feature today at Pinterest’s San Francisco office. They consider it a big step. After all, millions of users use the site to recommend and research products, and now they can buy directly, upping the value of the site for companies and customers.

CEO and co-founder Ben Silbermann said that consumers have added 50 billion pins since the company began, and is growing 75% annually. “People want to buy things on Pinterest,” Silbermann said.

The rise of mobile device traffic to the site was a big factor in bringing shop-ability to Pinterest. Eighty percent of Pinterest users access the site through their phones, so following a product link to purchase and check out online is inconvenient on such small screen.

Pinterest, however, isn't the first to announce a buy button today. Instagram also made an announcement revealing their plan for shoppable ads. In other words, savings accounts, you are totally screwed.

Needless to say, your "Christmas 2015 Gift Ideas" board just got more interesting. Happy pinning and shopping!