As predicted, Pinterest has proved itself a formidable presence in the f-commerce arena following figures showing it’s the fastest growing social media traffic source for e-commerce websites in terms of revenue.

Jeffrey Zwelling, Head of marketing performance tracking company Converto, revealed on VentureBeat that “Pinterest is the clear winner” when it comes to ‘first touch’ revenue per click (measured by tracking referral traffic from different sources to see what resulted in revenue), generating over four times as much revenue per click as Twitter and 27 percent more revenue per click than Facebook.

On a ‘multi-touch basis’ (where credit is given to every marketing channel regardless of its position in the purchasing chain) Pinterest still takes the lead, with Converto’s figures showing that it generates $0.45 per click compared to $0.40 for Facebook and $0.23 for Twitter.

Furthermore, in Q2 2011 Pinterest.com represented 1.2 percent of social media revenue for e-commerce sites. That figure now stands are 17.4 percent and Converto predicts the social pinning-sphere will be responsible for 40 percent of social media transactions by the end of Q2 2012, reducing mighty Facebook’s share to under 60 percent, down from 86 percent last year.

Zwelling encourages e-commerce sites to accelerate their Pinterest revenue by adding the ‘Pinit’ button to each catalog SKU on their websites – a simple and effective feature to drive traffic and sales. Credit where credit due: Pinterest has stampeded into the market and given Facebook a very loud and intrusive wake up call indeed.

Editor’s Note: Come here some of the top thinkers and practitioners in the area of social commerce speak about what’s driving sales for their firms and what new innovations will drive the market tomorrow at Social Media Influence 2012 in June.