Those of you old enough to remember John Craven's Newsround may recall many reports that began 'the latest craze to sweep the nation...'. These crazes included the Rubik's Cube, Deely Boppers and Clackers. I had them all in the 80's.
Now the latest craze to sweep the internet nation is the social bookmarking site Pinterest. For the benefit of those readers that have no idea what it is, have joined Pinterest but can't see the point or have joined and are wondering what they are supposed to do next, this post is for you. It's not a technical 'how-to', but more an insight into how I make the most of Pinterest.
I love Pinterest, it's my happy place. I pin stuff I like, that I've found on the internet, onto virtual boards. I can also see what my friends like too and re-pin it to my boards if it grabs me.
Pinterest can be aspirational
You can have a 'how I'd like my home to look' board and pin images of beautifully decorated rooms. You can create mood boards and pin colours or textures. For instance, Liz from Violet Posy has a board called 'Kitchen Inspiration'. I can see her dream kitchen and it is stunning.
One board that makes me smile is 'Clothes I'll never have' by Kat at 3 Bedroom Bungalow. We can all dream about the perfect shoe or amazing coat and now we can lust after them on Pinterest.
Pinterest can be inspirational
If you're stuck for craft ideas for you or your children there are thousands of options for projects large and small. Some are educational and others are just about getting messy and having fun. Two of my favourite pinners for children's crafts are Maggy from Red Ted Art and Cathy from Nurturestore.
If you're looking for an amusing or inspirational quote you'll find plenty of them on Pinterest. I can take or leave these boards. Sally from Who's the Mummy doesn't sit on the fence on this issue!
Pinterest can be practical
This is where Pinterest comes into its own for me. My most pinned board is 'Recipes'. If I see a recipe I like on a blog or anywhere else online I pin it. All my recipe pins are in one place. I know that the easy banana cake recipe is easy to find. No more wading through pages of favourites, with Pinterest I can go straight to it.
If you want to find a slow cooker recipe or ideas for children's cupcakes you will find them on Pinterest.
One board I regularly drool over is by Amy at Cooking, Cakes and Children and is simply called 'food'. Amy and I share a love for all things made with chocolate and caramel!
Another useful board is by Very Bored in Catalunya. Here VBIC rates every book she reads out of five. If a book gets five stars I'm going to give it a go.
Pinterest can be fun
It's not all bakes and makes on Pinterest. I love Simone from SFR Product Reviews' board 'Eye Candy'. I guess Ryan Reynolds is kinda cute...
Pinterest can be good for bloggers
If you pin a how-to guide or a recipe or craft idea from your blog you will get a link from Pinterest. You may also get a lot of traffic, especially if you get re-pinned. I only pin or re-pin something if I really like it. Circles of bloggers mass re-pinning each other's links looks a little spammy to me. Of course the beauty of Pinterest is that you only have to follow people that interest you. I'm not going to name names, but if someone only pins photographs of their dog, I'm probably going to unfollow them.
I hope this has encouraged you to explore Pinterest. If you would like an invite, please let me have your email address and I'll see what I can do - I have a few invites left to give out.
Happy pinning!
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Great post, but one thing to note about Pinterest when posting your own images is that the terms and conditions of the site allow Pinterest to re-sell, license or edit your work, in perpetuity. So if you're a photographer or creating something very visual and valuable, and may want to control how your content is used, don't put it on Pinterest!
ReplyDeleteSally, thank you. I hadn't realised that. I'd read that they were making money by redirecting links as affiliate links. I'll be careful what I do with my own images from now on!
DeleteI literally just joined - and have thought "what's the big deal?" so this post was timely. I didn't realize I could pin things from blogs/the 'net. Now that opens up whole new avenues for me to explore!
ReplyDeleteSo it's the online equivalent of that folder tucked into the bookshelf in my kitchen, with recipes that I've come across on the web, that look delicious, that I printed out to try, that I haven't quite got round to cooking yet?
ReplyDeleteHm... could be useful.
Oooh what a lovely and fab round up of the benefits of Pinterest!! YAY! And thank you so much for the mention :-)
ReplyDeleteMaggy
Thank you for the mention, I really need to work out how to make pinterest more interesting for me. I think I need to play about with it much more.
ReplyDeleteJust getting my teeth into Pinterest. Although we are all looking for ways to drive traffic, it is very easy to "lose yourself" in the boards and find an hour has flown by (and somehow just not mind!)
ReplyDeleteBrilliant. I was just pondering a Pinterest post, now I don't have to.
ReplyDelete