Are we friends? Did you write a book? Are you featured on my Pinterest bulletin board “Books Written by Friends”?
A colleague recently referred to Pinterest as a “rabbit hole” that you fall into and then find an entire underground tunnel system to explore before surfacing. I think of it as an Alice in Wonderland tunnel, with interesting places to visit and odd characters to meet along the way, and I agree with the friend – it’s very hard to resurface.
Last weekend I lost (“invested”) one full day on my posting boards because I like to “add value” to projects I participate in. Just collecting and posting others’ work isn’t really my cup of tea. So on my “Travel Bucket List,” for example, you’ll find not only photos of places I’d like to visit – photos lifted from other websites, which is what Pinterest is all about — but also the Wiki background for the attraction, which I added to the description.
If you’re new to Pinterest, it’s a social networking bulletin board, though not necessarily with your friends. A browser clipping tool, which is free and easy to download from Pinterest, allows you to “pin” photos or graphics from websites onto “boards” you create. Think of them as bulletin boards, each with its own collection. You can have one or many, many boards and, on each board, many pins. You have two options to populate your boards; either you can go to websites and find images, or you can scroll through Pinterest boards created by others and “repin” your favorite images from their collections.
When you are the first pinner, you have to include a description. Most people use a period (.) as a description placeholder if they are uninspired to add a sentiment or a note. I use periods when I have nothing to add as well. I think that’s better than writing “love this,” which lots of people gush when they pin. I don’t “love” everything I pin, so I either add a full comment or none. When you “repin,” the description follows the image, but you can edit it or delete it in favor of the period. (Continued)
Boards can have any title you choose (I have collections like “Arts and Crafts,” “For the Love of Ireland,” “Travel Bucket List,” “Books Written by Friends,” “Light a Candle,” etc. My favorite board is probably my Peace Garden, which is a collection of inspiring serenity images, to which I have added serenity quotations. It’s my mental Zen garden.
If you want to get started but aren’t yet ready to hunt down all of your own Web images, feel free to repin any and/or all of my images. All I ask is that you “follow” my boards that you especially like, as I’ll be repinning often, which is a benefit to you. Also, visit my followers’ boards, as we have similar interests (that’s the social component).
I began with a personal Pinterest site to get my feet wet before taking over IB’s Pinterest boards, so if you have something you’d like posted there, let me know! I’ll be working on those soon, updating and expanding our existing boards.
Meanwhile, hope to see you on my boards, and I look forward to visiting your landscapes. I’ve learned more, by visiting Pinterest boards, about people I know than I ever deduced from their Facebook or LinkedIn entries. See if you don’t feel the same way.
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