The recent emergence of Pinterest onto the online scene may profoundly change the way brands engage with consumers. The website, which, according to Forbes, is now the third most popular social network behind Twitter, is a user-curated service that allows users to “pin” images they like to create their own boards. Easy-to-use and with a visually pleasing interface that features high-quality photos, Pinterest is becoming more popular each day.

Although the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is now over, having wrapped up less than a week ago, many of the key themes, products and services highlighted during the show will leave indelible impressions in the minds of the 160,000 plus attendees for the months ahead. So what were the key themes of this year's CES and what do they bode for the advertising and content industries in the near future? Here's my take on it:

This week marks one of the most exciting periods of the year for the technology industry everywhere as 2012’s Consumer Electronics Show gets underway in Las Vegas. What used to be a gathering dedicated merely to what it was named after – electronics – has blossomed over the decades into a full-fledged global summit celebrating everything related to the convergence of advance consumer hardware, lifestyle based software and content from all corners of industry. An estimated 2,700 exhibitors and 150,000 attendees are expected to descend on this year’s event.

In recent months a slew of trendy new websites have popped up, aiming to help consumers with their future shopping needs. No, not with daily deals, but with product and brand discovery. Sites like Fancy, Pinterest, Svpply, and CircleMe, to name a few, are deeply social but don’t try to connect consumers with one another and then try to show brand ads to all of them. Instead these sites offer platforms with which consumers can discover and display the art, books, clothing, brands, and technology they already love.