What is Pinterest, and Why You Should Care

Are you just becoming familiar with the idea of social media? Well here comes another that’s growing in popularity: Pinterest. One thing that is different about Pinterest is that it focuses less on updates about the day-to-day and more on the interests of the users. This encourages creativity among its user base.

But that doesn’t explain what it is. The meaning is inside the name. Pinterest is a combination of the words “pin” and “interest”. Within your account you have “pinboards,” similar to bulletin boards. You can make these public or not, and then “pin” images of stuff you have an interest in onto these and make notes about these images.

Creating Pinterest Categories

For example, you could make the category convertibles. You can then paste any images you find online of the new Volkswagen Beetle convertible, along with a link to the page where you found them. You could also attach any photos of convertibles that you took yourself as well as add notes to these images. You can then share these pinboards with other Pinterest users.

The Social Part of Pinterest

While Pinterest has a different approach to social media, its main objective is still social interaction. You can elect to follow as many people as you want as well as only follow the pinboards you’re interested in. Say someone has a collection of local restaurants; you can follow that, while choosing not to follow her collection of “all things cute.”

Joining Pinterest

The main challenge with Pinterest is getting an account: you have to be invited to sign up. You can request an invitation straight from Pinterest when you visit the site, however it is uncertain how long you must wait to receive an invite using this method. It is far more reliable to seek out friends or acquaintances that are already using Pinterest. You can then have them invite you to the site through e-mail, Facebook, or Twitter.