It seemed like it happened over night. One day I didn’t know what Pinterest was and the next day everyone and their mom was pinning their way to happiness. I kind of felt like I missed the boat but luckily it wasn’t too late to join the fun. I will say of all the “social networking” sites that I have been a part of, this one is hands down my favorite. It is not JUST a time sucker! It is actually useful and inspiring! So put your excuses aside and get ready to become a part of the Pinterest phenomenon.
So what is it?
Stay with me through this explanation. To completely understand Pinterest’s absolute awesomeness you have to understand a few key things on how it works and when they come together, WOW, so keep on reading all the way to the end so we can bring it full circle. Pinterest claims to be an online pin board. What does that mean? In real life if you see a recipe, tutorial or article you like or want to try you tear it out and pin it up on your board of to do’s or stuff it into a recipe book where you can always go back and find it. Same idea online. When you sign up for Pinterest it will add a little tab in your navigation bar of your browser that says Pin It! Then anytime you are surfing the web and stumble onto something you want to remember, just hit the pin it button and you can save a picture from the web page onto your board in Pinterest which will serve as a link back to that site anytime. Example: I am browsing the internet and I find an idea for a really cute Christmas craft to do with the kids. But Christmas is almost a year away so it is really no use to me now, although, I would love to do it next Christmas. What are the chances I will remember it in 11 months? Let’s just be honest, even if I bookmark it on my computer I wouldn’t remember. Now I can hit the “Pin it” button on my browser and add it to my Christmas pin board. Then when Christmas time rolls around again and I am looking for a little inspiration on what to do with the kids I can log into Pinterest, click on my Christmas pin board, and see all of the things I have come across over the year saved in one convenient place.
Pinning the interesting things you find on the internet in and of itself is pretty awesome, but where the real power of Pinterest comes in is beyond that! When you first sign up it will ask you to click on pictures of things that seem interesting to you. After doing this it will automatically assign you people to follow (don’t worry, you can unfollow them later if you want.) You can also find friends to follow through your Facebook friends, e-mail contacts and a few other ways. All of these people you are following are also pinning the coolest things they find on the internet to their boards. When you log into your account all of the recipes, tutorials, crafts, articles, tips and tricks, etc. that they have been pinning will pop up on your home screen. There you have at your finger tips a million things that your friends, or people like you, have thought were cool or useful. You can then click on any of their pins you would like to save and repin them to your boards. Many people mostly just repin and seldomly ever make an original pin. It is like all the coolest stuff on the internet being delivered straight to your computer screen. With the myriad of websites and blogs out there on the internet, this makes it easy to find the stuff that interests you and keep it in a place that is easy to find once you are ready for it.
Why we love it
Obviously for the reasons listed above. Making it easy to organize and keep track of a million ideas on a million different topics on the web. Also, though just for inspiration. In any category any time. It has become my cook book. I can browse the food pages of Pinterest or go straight to my food pin board and find limitless inspiration in minutes when I am meal planning for the week. Instead of being bored and frustrated with cooking (crafting, my work out routine, diy projects, etc.) I always have a quick source of inspiration at my fingertips. Another thing that I absolutely love is finding tips, tricks and ideas that I would have never in a million years come across otherwise by seeing what the people that I follow are pinning. I am more efficient in the way I do things, I have saved my family money, I have created more beautiful things because of tips and tricks I have found on Pinterest. And with that said go, right now, and make your Pinterest account so you can be organized, efficient, creative and inspired.
And remember always come back here to The Pinning Mama for your source to see the pins tested, reviewed and rated so you know whether to try it or just delete it!
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