Pinterest is the digital equivalent of a wishbook. Remember cutting home decor ideas out of a magazine & pasting them in a scrapbook? Or keeping a folder of household cleaning tips? Me either. (If you visited my home you would probably say that perhaps I could have benefited from such a wishbook.) Anyway, Pinterest is a place to go look for ideas and also a place to save an idea when you come across it on the world wide web. I mostly do the latter.
Here is what the home page looks like when I log on:
If I wanted to, I could just keep scrolling down & looking at stuff. Or I could search for something in particular. But Pinterest, like Wikipedia, is created by the masses. If you see something that interests you and you click on it, the link may or may not take you somewhere helpful. I mostly ignore this page (although isn't that baby hat adorable?).
Here is MY page, with my boards (folders):
As you can see, I had so many links to crochet patterns that I had to split them up. So, how do these pictures get here? I come across something of interest (let's face it, it usually involves yarn). I think to myself, "Self, I would like to make this hat/scarf/blanket later." So I click on the little Pinterest symbol on my toolbar :
And a window pops up asking me which board I want to put it on:
Then later I go into Pinterest to my boards, and select the one I want (here is my scarves board):
I scroll down until I find the one I want & click on it. That takes me to the original website which has the pattern:
Back in the bad old days I had dozens of links to things I wanted to keep, saved as bookmarks on Internet Explorer (those WERE the bad old days!). Which was fine for articles or exercise tips - I could name the bookmark well enough to know what it was. But once I started collecting crochet patterns, without a picture attached, I would usually have to click on each one to find the one I wanted. I mean, really, I'm supposed to remember what the Dazzle Scarf looks like six months from now?
Pinterest, as a repository for all my crochet patterns of interest, works really well for me. And saves paper too - I can access it on my phone & pull up a pattern on the fly wherever I am. And frankly, that has been the biggest selling point for me, especially with all of these granny squares I'm making. I can pull up the pattern wherever I am & see how mine compares to the original.
Clear as mud? Did I convince you of its worth?
I guess for you, it might be a worthwhile thing. For me, I have no use for it. I know people who Pin pictures of things. What on earth for? Or recipes. I really don't understand that one.
ReplyDeleteI created a pinterest account just to have boards of my etched glass and pate de verre work out there. I followed three or four boards cause I had to to sign up but I never look at them. maybe I'll start using it to hold pictures that I collect into folders on my desktop.
ReplyDeleteI love Pinterest! Especially for recipes!! It's like my own virtual recipe book and I use it all the time. but for those of us who are not creative enough to come up with our own ideas, but have the great ability to "copy" ideas....it's perfect!
ReplyDeleteSee, I HAVE a Pinterest thing but who can remember to look at it or paste to it? Just another thing to do.
ReplyDeleteI'd be lost without Pinterest
ReplyDeleteI don't have time for another site. My blog and Facebook and Twitter and crosswords and Politico and the New York Times take up all of my time.
ReplyDeleteYoutube and blogs are my MAIN interest; Pininterest is pointless for me but you explain it well Dana.
ReplyDeleteI spend too much time on the computer as it is. But there is cool stuff posted there.
ReplyDeleteI like Pinterest, mostly for recipes and photography ideas and tutorials. I don't seem to have much time for it lately.
ReplyDeleteI remember when Pinterest first started becoming really popular. We had a "Pinterest lunch" at work - a potluck where everybody had to make something they had found on Pinterest. I made sopapilla.
Guy 1 to Guy 2: "What's Pinterest?"
Guy 2 to Guy 1: "Pinterest is where your wife stares at the computer for five hours and then you eat salad out of a Mason jar."
I'm in the outside pinterest camp for the moment, mainly because of computer speeds, my laptop shudders when I try to pin anything... some day perhaps
ReplyDeleteSo it's a female thing? I don't see anything there that would interest me. Football? Tanks? Heavy equipment demos? Didn't think so. ;)
ReplyDeleteBack in the bad old days I had dozens of links to things I wanted to keep, saved as bookmarks on Internet Explorer
ReplyDeleteThe character of Sheldon Cooper once said the only true purpose for Internet Explorer was to use it to download Mozilla's Firefox.
I have lots of friends who are totally caught up in Pinterest. Me? The last thing I need is another site to keep me at the computer.
ReplyDeleteYou convinced me of its worth for YOU -- and I have no doubt that lots of other people with hobbies and activities that benefit from pictorial input (like saving patterns and that kind of thing) would get something out of it.
ReplyDeleteI set up a Pinterest account years ago and I haven't logged in in ages. It's just not something I would ever really use. In fact, I'm thinking about deleting it!
Still doesn't call me but thanks for the tutorial.
ReplyDelete