My much younger friends, Cheri and Christi, first raved about Pinterest
to me last year and, at the time, it seemed a bit overwhelming. What could an
internet bulletin board offer that would be fun and interesting? [Sidebar: By
now you see the word ‘interesting’ keeps coming up. Think of Pinterest as an
online bulletin board where you can pin
interesting things.] What the
name doesn’t hint at is that the site compiles and presents a cabillion
‘interesting’ things you might want to save for future reference.
Instead of printing out something interesting and putting that piece of paper in a drawer,
folder or instead of pinning it to the bulletin board above your desk, you ‘Pin’ the item
and it is saved to your own virtual bulletin board.
Your big bulletin board is then broken down into as many
smaller sub-bulletin boards as you want or need. For instance, attached to my board I have 18 topic
specific boards with interests which include: cats, books worth reading, men I
like, gingko, veggie sushi, style, for the home, and miscellaneous. Each item
pinned under one of these boards leads to a picture and a recipe, website, blog
or some other avenue to get the information you need. There are thousands of pin possibilities for
how to get your clothes whiter, or pack better for a trip or make the ideal
Halloween costume, or tie a scarf or where to buy something or how to make
something. All the users contribute thousands of new pins daily.
Pinterest is like being able to view the entire web and
select and store those items that interest you. Recently I became interested in
altered books, where decorative art is made from old books. I searched on
Pinterest and found hundreds of examples of different altered book projects and
displays. I ‘pinned’ them and then later, when I had more time, I went back and
looked at them individually. By doing this I was exposed to websites that
showed where altered books classes or exhibits are taking place. I was exposed
to other people who shared my interest and to instructions on how to reproduce
some exhibited work.
And don’t EVEN talk about food and recipes. Pinterest
recipes have a life of their own, and well known jokes have been published
about how much time, energy and ingredients have been taken up with tried and
true or tried and not true cooking. Three of my 18 Pinterest bulletin boards
deal with food alone.
Pinterest isn’t a game. It’s a huge conglomeration of
information. Granted, like Wikipedia, most of the info is viewer input, and I
generally double check things that sound wacko.
There is no obligation with Pinterest. There is no advertising, no possibility
of spam unless you travel down a path to a dubious website (and
Pinterest is very good about ferreting those out ahead of time) and no social
interaction per se. Yes, you may comment on a pin in the public arena but you
don’t need to chat or talk or email with anyone else there. No one is going to
bother or poke you if you don’t pin for weeks or months. It truly is there for
you, to use as you see fit.
There is no obligation with Pinterest. There is no advertising, no possibility
of spam unless you travel down a path to a dubious website (and
Pinterest is very good about ferreting those out ahead of time) and no social
interaction per se. Yes, you may comment on a pin in the public arena but you
don’t need to chat or talk or email with anyone else there. No one is going to
bother or poke you if you don’t pin for weeks or months. It truly is there for
you, to use as you see fit.
I think it’s definitely worth checking out. Find it out here http://pinterest.com/
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