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"Popular social bookmarking site Pinterest has become the hottest startup on the web, luring millions of people to the site to collect and share things they like on the Internet.\nBut a new report from social media blog LLSocial reveals that the site may be \"quietly\" generating revenue by adjusting and tracking the links attached to pins that are posted by users.\nLLSocial noted that Pinterest may be collecting money through an affiliate program when pins are connected to ecommerce sites. For example, a picture of a sweater pinned to someone's online board might have a link that connects them to a site where the sweater can be purchased, and this is when Pinterest reportedly steps in.\n\"If you post a pin to Pinterest, and it links to an ecommerce site that happens to have an affiliate program, Pinterest modifies the link to add their own affiliate tracking code,\" LLSocial said. \"If someone clicks through the picture from Pinterest and makes a purchase, Pinterest gets paid. They don\u2019t have any disclosure of this link modification on their site.\"\nLLSocial said Pinterest is reportedly doing this via a service called skimlinks, which automatically scales the site and adds affiliate links to products associated with an affiliate program. The service makes money by taking a percentage of the generated affiliated revenue.\nAlthough adding a tracking code isn't rare, the blogger said Pinterest isn't informing users about the practice.\n\"As most bloggers are aware, when you use an affiliate link in your post, you need to provide some type of disclosure either by it clearly being an ad, mentioning it is an affiliate link or at a minimum providing some type of prominent disclosure that your site features affiliate links,\" LLSocial said. \"This is done because you have a financial interest is promoting the product.\"\n\"In Pinterest\u2019s case, since they are not creating the content and are inserting the links automatically, they might feel that they are not promoting affiliate linked pins any more than other pins, and thus they don\u2019t need to disclose as the placement is not affected based on the financial gain,\" the site continued.\nPinterest hasn't responded to Mashable for comment.\nLLSocial added that Pinterest should disclose this practice to users to maintain trust, even if they aren't legally required to do so. \nPinterest's popularity is undenaible. In fact, it has reportedly become the fastest standalone site ever to reach 10 million unique visitors in a month, according to comScore data via a report by TechCrunch.\nPinterest recently raked in 11.7 million unique visitors in the U.S., helped largely by adoption among 18- to 34-year-old women. Members tend to spent about an hour and a half (98 minutes) on the site each month, the report said.\nDo you think Pinterest should make it more clear that they are adding tracking code to user-generated pins? Do you know of other websites that don't disclose this type of profit-generating behavior? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.\n\n\nPinterest's Rise to The Top\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMarch 2010: Pinterest Launched\nPinterest is launched to a closed beta. Later it will move to the email invite system it currently employs.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAugust, 2011: Pinterest on Time Magazine\nPinterest made the list of Top 50 Most Interesting Websites of 2011, according to Time magazine.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nOct. 8, 2011: Funding\n\nPinterest receives $27 million in funding from Andreessen Horowitz, which then valued them at $200 million.\nImage courtesy of iStockphoto, chieferu\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nOctober, 2011: Page Views Soar\nIn October, the site surpassed 421 million pageviews, which means that each of its 3 million users spent a lot of time browsing Pinterest. That would be an average of 140 pageviews per user.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDec. 22: Top Ten\nPinterest is now in the top 10 websites in traffic in the category of social networking, which adds up to 40 times the number of visits it had six months before.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJan. 19: Good Morning America Covers Pinterest\nPinterest has picked up mainstream media coverage as it gains popularity. Mashable\u2019s Community Manager Meghan Peters even appeared on GMA to explain it.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJan. 29: Pinterest Biggest Retail Traffic Driver\n\nTraffic Pinterest sent elsewhere has risen dramatically, making it a top five referrer for several apparel retailers, according to internal data from Monetate.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFeb. 1: Pinterest Beating Other Social Networks\n\n\nPinterest beat YouTube, Reddit, Google+, LinkedIn and MySpace for percentage of total referral traffic in January, according to a Shareaholic study. Pinterest accounted for 3.6% of referral traffic, while Twitter just barely edged ahead of the newcomer, accounting for 3.61% of referral traffic. In July 2011, Pinterest accounted for just 0.17% of referral traffic.\nImage courtesy of Shareaholic.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCheck Out More of Mashable's Coverage of Pinterest\n\nHow to Get a Pinterest Invite\nHow Pinterest Is Changing Website Design Forever\n7 Tips for Planning a Wedding on Pinterest\nPinterest Drives More Traffic Than Google+, YouTube and LinkedIn Combined [STUDY] \n21 Must-Follow Pinterest Users\n"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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