Pinterest 101

Do you Pinterest? Do you even know what I am referring to? So for those of you that already use this amazing site....feel free to add your own two cents in the comments. However....for those of you who have heard of it....but don't know how to use it OR for those of you who have no idea what I am referring to....please sit back and prepare to be wowed....by Pinterest101!

Remember back in the day when you would happen upon a website with information you wanted to keep, a great recipe you wanted to remember or a really cute pair of shoes you wanted to order when you got paid? The only way you could remember these sites was in your toolbar bookmarks. If you were like me though....sometimes the bookmarks took and sometimes they didn't. Unless you were some kind of crazed neat freak with OCD (ignore me....that is the jealousy talking) you never categorized your bookmarks, so to go back and find these pages or to even remember that you marked them was a huge unorganized hassle. Apparently I was not the only one in the internet universe who felt this way....so some extraordinary genus came up with Pinterest.

I know Pinterest has been around since at least 2010 because I was working with a particular person at the time who was constantly telling me I needed to join. At the time...I had just barely joined facebook (fb) and I was trying to figure that out. Another joined website at the time was more than my technically impaired brain could handle. In time though.....with much nudging and me starting to feel like I was really uncool for not being a part (yes....peer pressure is still alive and well)....I joined. Since that moment....I have never looked back.

What it Pinterest you ask? It is a virtual bulletin board or bulletin boards (you can have as many as you like) where if you find something on the internet such as a recipe, shoes, or an interesting article...you can "pin it" to one of your bulletin boards for easy access at a later date. To put it simply.....it is virtual hoarding without having the fear of an intervention or having your space condemned.

How Pinterest works is this? First you go to www.pinterest.com and ask to join. There is just a short little form you fill out to join and then in a day or two you will receive an email saying you have been accepted. You then proceed to the profile area. Here you can give as little or as much information on yourself as you like. You will then have an area that will let you see who of your fb friends is already using Pinterest. There is also a line to look up non-fb friends by name to see if they are using Pinterest too.  It will give you the option to follow  them. Following means that when one of your friends or people you are following pins or repins something....you can see it. You too then have the choice to repin what they pin and put it on your own bulletin board. Your bulletin boards are created by clicking on the "+" at the top of the page. By making bulletin boards such as "recipes", "yard ideas", "indoor design ideas", etc then you have easy and organized access when you are pinning stuff. You can pin just about anything (with a few exceptions....you can't pin anything from fb) by downloading a "pin it" button. You are given instructions how to pin the button to your toolbar. Then when you come upon something you wish to pin....you just hit the "pin it" button in your toolbar and it will let you not only pin it...but pin it to the exact board you want it on.

As time goes on and you start pinning regularly (trust me....it becomes addictive) then others will start to follow you. It can be very interesting some of the people that end up following you and fear not...it is not like fb where you have real interaction with your followers. It is just merely them peeking at your likes and cool finds and you then can peek at theirs. I was explaining all of this to an older woman one day and she looked at me extremely confused and said.."Why do I want to look at things you like?" Well....first of all it really isn't like that. After you begin pinning and seeing others pins...it just becomes a huge exchange of ideas. Everything from craft ideas, recipes and cleaning solutions are shared on Pinterest and you will discover the simplest things that you had never thought of before.

You also will find some interesting types of people on Pinterest. There are those who love haunted places and they will pin places around the country that have a haunted history. I follow one lady who is fascinated by the macabre. She has a board that is nothing but post mortum pictures from the late 1800's and early 1900's. There are boards with Christmas and other holiday ideas, gifts and ideas for bored kids. There are vacation ideas, reading suggestions and even favorite blogs.

If you think about it....Pinterest is pure genus. It is a win for everyone involved. I am sure the inventor is sitting back counting their coin and those websites, blogs, etc that get pinned and repinned are getting their name and product out there many many times a day. Pinterest has also helped many an item, video, recipe take virtual wings and fly. This was more than evident at Christmas time when Walmart could not keep in  baking supplies for some of the favorite pinned Christmas goodie recipes.

Originally I think Pinterest started out as recipe exchange and crafters paradise. Soon though designers, do-it-yourselfers and people with all kinds of ideas from hair styles to retro items started pinning. It was a predominately female site at first...but recently men have been getting their Pinterest on too. You are seeing more and more men pinning hunting gear, hunting sites, cars, garages and do-it-yourself ideas. They too are finding the fun of Pinterest and jumping on board (pun intended).

Pinterest unlike many sites really does appear to have something for everyone and it is an extremely easy site to work with and on. I mean if I can do it...then anyone can. Caution though...it can be addictive and time will literally get away from you as you pin your way through page after page of ideas. I think I am up to about 67 boards and close to 4,000 pins. I realized this morning that in order to do all, see all, use all and taste all that I have pinned...I will now have to live to be at least 135!

So there you have it. Pinterest 101. The site is really pretty self explanatory.....but just in case you try it out and get lost...don't hesitate to contact me and I am sure we can quickly get you back on track with no problem at all. Now that you know the basics....there's only one thing left to do. Lets get to pinning!