What is this Pinterest thing everyone keeps talking about and why is everyone so into it???
That’s exactly what I said a few months ago and now I am completely, ridiculously addicted to it. It’s one of the coolest things to get into and you could really spend hours and hours and hours on it everyday.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with it, or have heard other people talking about it and feel left out, here’s what it’s all about:
Pinterest is an invitation-only website where you can “pin” things that you see online that you love, organize them into boards and share them with people. It’s super easy to do, and perfect for those who either want an online place to organize ideas or have a single place to reference things you have seen online for later use.
Let’s say you just got engaged and start seeing all these different ideas about flowers, centerpieces, dresses, color schemes, chairs, etc. Where do you put all of that? Sure you can start keeping a scrapbook and organize it that way, OR you can create a board on Pinterest called “Fairytale Wedding” and have all of those ideas pinned on that board.
Here’s another example. Say you LOVE to cook and are always looking for new recipes. Pinterest can be that community of cooks for you because they will post recipes that they have either tried or seen online. So say you have a football playoff party coming up at your house. You can search “football party recipes” and in a matter of seconds you’ll see recipes for football cupcakes, potato wedges, dips and hamburgers. If you see something you like, just pin it on one of your boards (say called “Party Recipes”) and you’ll have that to reference on Sunday.
The boards you create can be anything and you can have as many as you want. Say you found a picture of a beautiful bedroom. Put it in your Dream Home board. That new O.P.I color you can’t wait to try? Put it in your Beauty board. See a recipe that looks delicious? It’s going in your Food board. Looking for inspirational quotes to get you through the day? Yep, in your Inspiration board.
Pinterest is mostly women focused, and has gotten a LOT of news worthy attention. CNet recently had an article that has Pinterest in the top 10 social sites along with Facebook, You Tube, Twitter and Yelp. Brands are now getting in on the action and are looking at Pinterest to get consumer insight (article from Mashable here).
Pinterest has only been around since 2010 and the attention it’s been getting is amazing. The consumer isn’t racking up points by pinning, there is no loyalty program, no perk or cash incentive. The site is just FUN. It gives the “pinner” a sense of community. You can search for pinners on Pinterest on Facebook, Twitter, and any other social site. You can follow your friends boards, start your own board and comment/like other people’s boards. You can share your pins on Facebook and twitter. When someone re-pins your pin, you get an email so you know what people are looking at. Even brands like Birchbox has a Pinterest account (which by the way, if you don’t know about Birchbox, it’s AMAZING).
So bottom line is that it’s really the cool thing to do. It’s fun, creative (great for the artsy type) and so addicting (but in a good way). I invite you to look into it, read the articles about it, and get in on the fun. You do need an invitation to join, but with so many people already on it, there’s a good chance you will be too.
Happy Pinning!