Benny Evangelista's Feb 28 SF Gate article names three reasons why Pinterest is succeeding.

1. PINTEREST IS ABOUT INTERESTS, NOT FRIENDS.

"With Facebook, a lot of the status updates are things you really don't care about," said Butler, who lives in San Diego. "With Pinterest, you can actually target the things that you like. I love it so much, I'm on all the time."

2. PINTEREST IS A NEW WAY TO SEARCH FOR THINGS.

"For me, it's the new Google," said Miranda Hahn, co-founder of the Pinterest Project, a blog that highlights the best home decorating tips and recipes that she and co-author Jamie Brunson have found pinned on the virtual corkboard.

"I can search for anything there, and it will come up," said Hahn, of Charlotte, N.C. "I'm a visual person, and that's what I love about Pinterest."

3. PINTEREST IS SOCIAL SO PINNERS CAN MEET EACH OTHER.

The blog, which has the tagline "A pin a day keeps the crazy away," has about 60,000 page views a month.

Butler said she was "out of her comfort zone" having strangers following her pins, but became accustomed to its new approach to social networking.

"When I pin stuff from stranger's pages, I feel we can be friends," she said. "I don't feel like it's a waste of time because I'm learning things."

INTERESTS + SEARCH + SOCIAL = #winning

See also: Pinterest drives more blog traffic than Twitter.