What Is Pinterest?

Home & Family, Technology
on March 3, 2012

Pinterest is a free online pinboard or virtual bulletin board. Picture several pinboards, each organized to display fun, unique, beautiful and interesting things found on the Internet. Pinterest members can browse pinboards created by other members and create specialized boards of their own. This site successfully merges personal creativity and expression with social networking.

How do I join? Pinterest is free; however, you do need an invitation to join. Potential members can request an invitation on the site’s homepage or ask a friend who is already a member to send an invitation. Pinterest simply requests an email address from members. After your invitation has been offered and you’ve accepted, you can create an account password and user name, or sign in using your Twitter or Facebook accounts.

What can I put on my pinboards? Pinboards offers a virtual world for users to create unique collections of images. The site provides pinboard categories such as art, fitness, gardening, holidays, home décor, kids, sports, travel, weddings and more. You can choose to use these categories for your collections, or you can create your own boards.

Individual pinboards designed to fit your style. For example, if you love trips to Disney World, create a board to celebrate the vacation destination. Include pictures of your favorite rides, foods you’ve enjoyed and even characters you’d like to meet on your next trip. Wedding boards are very popular as well. Brides-to-be pin images of stunning gowns, creative centerpiece ideas, hair accessories and honeymoon destination ideas.

Who can see my pinboards? Any Pinterest member can see your boards and subscribe to follow them. You can also look at other members’ boards and follow your favorites. Like Twitter and Facebook, you will have friends you follow and that follow you. Members can comment on images and repin (copy) images from one board to their own. You can set your account so only you can pin images to your personal boards.

How do I pin something to my board? Pinterest uses a bookmark called Pin It. After creating your account, you can select the Pin It button to appear in your browser’s toolbar. When you find something interesting to add to one of your boards, simply click on your Pin It button and follow the prompts. You can also add Pinterest to your iPhone. Do you have your own website? Add the Pinterest “Follow Me” button to your site or a “Pin It” button. Add the “Pin It” button just as you would the link buttons for Twitter, Facebook, StumbleUpon and other social networking sites.

Who is using Pinterest? Founded in 2010 by Ben Silbermann and Paul Sciarra, Pinterest, according to TechCrunch, now has more than 10.4 million users with about 9 million of those users connecting via their Facebook accounts. Based on data from Inside Network, TechCrunch reports 97 percent of the people who click “like” on Pinterest’s Facebook are female.