-by Rachel Aubrey
Pinterest has taken the Internet by surprise. It’s a site that is patterned after a corkboard that you would hang on a wall in your house, a place to ‘pin’ things you want to keep and remember. Except it’s all done online.
Instead of the instant message interactions or the ’likes’ and ‘unlikes’ of other popular social media sites, users of Pinterest ‘pin’ everything and take ideas, concepts, and images and pin them to virtual ‘boards’ for others to ‘follow’ and ‘repin’. From favorite recipes, art, home décor ideas, photography, brands and more, pinners are able to keep up with friends and family and share ideas about things like, where to go on family vacation, how to plan a bridal or baby shower, what to cook for mom and dad’s 20th wedding anniversary. It is interactive, meaning, you can follow people’s pins and they can follow yours. According to Beth Hayden of Copy Blogger, Pinterest drove greater traffic to websites than LinkedIn, Google Plus, Reddit, and Youtube — combined in January of 2012.
Why is Pinterest so appealing? Because tt borders on being the next social media wagon of couse. According to the Pinterest website, “You can browse pinboards created by other people. Browsing pinboards is a fun way to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests.”
The interests of course range. Users can create ‘boards’ and then have the option to pin things to the boards. While scrolling through the homepage of the site, you can see what others have pineed and either repin it to your board by the category you feel it fits, or simply ‘like’ it.
According to writer Sarah Pulliam Bailey for Indystar.com, “the site is the newest hub for aspiring cooks, artists and athletes to "pin" Internet finds.”
The following is a brief overview of Pinterest and Pinterest users:
How to start using Pinterest.
In order to use Pinterest you need to be invited via email by someone who is already using the online pinning system.
Make a friend with someone who uses Pinterest and ask him or her to invite you (yes guys use it to, but more on that later). Once you have your invitation, you can log on and create an account using Facebook or Twitter.
Honolulu resident Amanda Nair remembers getting her invite to join. She had heard about it from other friends, and looked it up on Google and saw how great all the ideas were.
“I asked around for a friend to send me an invite so I could create my own boards,” said Nair, “It says I joined 16 weeks ago.”
Despite spending time pinning on a daily basis in the beginning, Nair has cut back her time on the site significantly.
“I used to spend maybe 15 minutes a day when I first got started. Now I probably spend 15 minutes a week,” said Nair.
Is Pinterest just for women??
Despite being a site that has been popularized by women, men also have caught the Pinterest bug. Tim Lussier is the student body president at Hawaii Pacific University; he is working on his masters in communication and also campaigning for Republican delegate Mitt Romney. With his head in books studying for comprehensive exams and his time being devoted to improving conditions for students at HPU, how does one so occupied know about “pinning.”
“Heard some rumblings about it,” said Lussier, “Then my girlfriend got it. Then Ann Romney got it, [then] saw people post stuff on Facebook.”
Although he doesn’t spend hours upon hours the way some do, Tim embraced what he considers a unique social network site.
“[I go on] every couple days, try to keep it fresh,” said Lussier, “It’s interesting that a site started by men has become mostly about women.”
Addicting?
The addiction to Pinterst can be easily attributed to one key factor, how much time does one spend on the Internet? For college students, time spent on the Internet often crosses into the realm of academic territory.
“I check it the same time I check my Facebook,” said Alexis Naggras, a student at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, who checks both her Facebook and Pinterest account on a daily basis.
Balancing school, work, internships or other extra curricular activities can be hard enough without adding something as addicting as Pinterest. Sometimes there aren’t enough hours in the day, there is even less time for pinning. Jordan Toyer, a junior and creative writing major at Utah Valley University knows first hand how time flies when you are busy planning events on Pinterest.
“Sometimes you can be sitting at your computer for five minutes just browsing, before you know it, an hour goes by,” said Toyer, “I think it can be really addicting.”
*Pinterest Home page
http://pinterest.com/
*We’re stuck on Pinterest
http://www.indystar.com/article/20120316/OPINION12/203160366/We-re-stuck-Pinterest
*56 Ways to Markey Your Business on Pinterest
http://www.copyblogger.com/pinterest-marketing/
Pinterest has taken the Internet by surprise. It’s a site that is patterned after a corkboard that you would hang on a wall in your house, a place to ‘pin’ things you want to keep and remember. Except it’s all done online.
Instead of the instant message interactions or the ’likes’ and ‘unlikes’ of other popular social media sites, users of Pinterest ‘pin’ everything and take ideas, concepts, and images and pin them to virtual ‘boards’ for others to ‘follow’ and ‘repin’. From favorite recipes, art, home décor ideas, photography, brands and more, pinners are able to keep up with friends and family and share ideas about things like, where to go on family vacation, how to plan a bridal or baby shower, what to cook for mom and dad’s 20th wedding anniversary. It is interactive, meaning, you can follow people’s pins and they can follow yours. According to Beth Hayden of Copy Blogger, Pinterest drove greater traffic to websites than LinkedIn, Google Plus, Reddit, and Youtube — combined in January of 2012.
Why is Pinterest so appealing? Because tt borders on being the next social media wagon of couse. According to the Pinterest website, “You can browse pinboards created by other people. Browsing pinboards is a fun way to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests.”
The interests of course range. Users can create ‘boards’ and then have the option to pin things to the boards. While scrolling through the homepage of the site, you can see what others have pineed and either repin it to your board by the category you feel it fits, or simply ‘like’ it.
According to writer Sarah Pulliam Bailey for Indystar.com, “the site is the newest hub for aspiring cooks, artists and athletes to "pin" Internet finds.”
The following is a brief overview of Pinterest and Pinterest users:
How to start using Pinterest.
In order to use Pinterest you need to be invited via email by someone who is already using the online pinning system.
Make a friend with someone who uses Pinterest and ask him or her to invite you (yes guys use it to, but more on that later). Once you have your invitation, you can log on and create an account using Facebook or Twitter.
Honolulu resident Amanda Nair remembers getting her invite to join. She had heard about it from other friends, and looked it up on Google and saw how great all the ideas were.
“I asked around for a friend to send me an invite so I could create my own boards,” said Nair, “It says I joined 16 weeks ago.”
Despite spending time pinning on a daily basis in the beginning, Nair has cut back her time on the site significantly.
“I used to spend maybe 15 minutes a day when I first got started. Now I probably spend 15 minutes a week,” said Nair.
Is Pinterest just for women??
Despite being a site that has been popularized by women, men also have caught the Pinterest bug. Tim Lussier is the student body president at Hawaii Pacific University; he is working on his masters in communication and also campaigning for Republican delegate Mitt Romney. With his head in books studying for comprehensive exams and his time being devoted to improving conditions for students at HPU, how does one so occupied know about “pinning.”
“Heard some rumblings about it,” said Lussier, “Then my girlfriend got it. Then Ann Romney got it, [then] saw people post stuff on Facebook.”
Although he doesn’t spend hours upon hours the way some do, Tim embraced what he considers a unique social network site.
“[I go on] every couple days, try to keep it fresh,” said Lussier, “It’s interesting that a site started by men has become mostly about women.”
Addicting?
The addiction to Pinterst can be easily attributed to one key factor, how much time does one spend on the Internet? For college students, time spent on the Internet often crosses into the realm of academic territory.
“I check it the same time I check my Facebook,” said Alexis Naggras, a student at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, who checks both her Facebook and Pinterest account on a daily basis.
Balancing school, work, internships or other extra curricular activities can be hard enough without adding something as addicting as Pinterest. Sometimes there aren’t enough hours in the day, there is even less time for pinning. Jordan Toyer, a junior and creative writing major at Utah Valley University knows first hand how time flies when you are busy planning events on Pinterest.
“Sometimes you can be sitting at your computer for five minutes just browsing, before you know it, an hour goes by,” said Toyer, “I think it can be really addicting.”
*Pinterest Home page
http://pinterest.com/
*We’re stuck on Pinterest
http://www.indystar.com/article/20120316/OPINION12/203160366/We-re-stuck-Pinterest
*56 Ways to Markey Your Business on Pinterest
http://www.copyblogger.com/pinterest-marketing/
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