After creating a few of my own Pinterest boards, I see why it is the talk of the online town, a new form of self-expression, a way to collect favorite images and to create petite panels of personality. These little walls of photos are becoming dream boards, idea centers and yes, an online status symbol.
She who pins, wins. Well, there's nothing you win tangibly, like cash or coupons. Ah, but true blogging never was about the cash or coupons. It IS about self-expression and as more and more data was added to the Internet over the last couple of years, curation of existing data became the buzz.
But, people still need show their own two cents and cleverness. Pinterest brings together the best of the Internet, the 3 C's: Creativity, Curation, Community.
Creatively, you can collect images of projects you want to complete some day, crafts & cakes you may want to attempt, clothes styles you like and much more. Just add the "pin" option to your browser toolbar and you can pin away whenever you see something that you want to remember; and, with so much to remember & distract us these days, this is a blessing.
As a curator, savvy pinners create a number of boards with general titles they can add to as they browse the Internet. I found when searching the boards of the others, it helps to keep your title as general as possible if you want your board to be found. For example, I started a Quilts board, beginning with the title "Quilts I want to create" and then, "Unique Quilts." But, when I searched for quilts under the boards section, only boards with the simple title "quilts" came up. Therefore, I changed the title of that board to simply "Quilts" so that others might find mine when they search.
Note that each image links to a website somewhere. For the sake of the community, you are supposed to pin a variety of things, not just images with website links to your own sites all the time. Hello, brands, this means you too! Don't commercialize this yet, please.
As for community, I love how they start you off following a number of your friends, which is pulled from your Facebook sign-in or perhaps email account. You don't even have to work at finding familiar people but you will want to follow others as your interests and boards expand. And, I love watching new pins go up on the main board as avid pinners go nuts searching and pinning. You can see who is most active at any given moment and you can "like," comment or repin items in your own boards. In the sidebar, you can see who has been repinning your pins or following your pins.
It's kind of like Twitter in that a whole new language has begun! Wait until all the third party apps get into the mix. I predict we will see Pindecks, Pinsuites, Pinbooks, and much more.
Want to know more? Email if you want an invite. And, watch for Kelby Carr's Pinterest for Dummies coming out later this year and/or link up to her Pinterest Profile Link-up if you have already gotten started. Follow me if you want to see my fledgling efforts on quilts, food crafts, inspirational items, funny things and teenagers. Get in the "game" & have some online creative fun!
{Update: And then, there is the SEO and monetary value of pinning mentioned in this interesting and revealing article by The Nester.}
Let the pinning begin!
