This fairly new social media
website has quickly taken the world by storm. But what exactly is Pinterest? How
does it work? And what’s so exciting about it anyways? Before I decided to make
an account for myself, these were some of the questions I asked my peers. Many
of my friends already had Pinterest accounts and raved about them constantly.
Nonetheless, no matter how many times they tried to explain the logistics to
me, it never made much sense. So, I’ll
admit, when I first created my “pinboard”, it was primarily out of curiosity.
However, I quickly came to realize just how ingenious the website really was,
and since then, have been irrevocably OBSESSED.
Pinterest is essentially a social photo-sharing website—a “virtual
pinboard.” The first thing you do when
you create an account is make boards. A board is a personalized set of pins and
can be about any topic. Some of the most
popular boards include Fashion, Travel, Food/Recipes, Cars, DIY, and Weddings. If
you find a picture that interests you or a link to website you’d like to come
back to, you can “re-pin” it to one of your boards. The great thing about
Pinterest is that you can follow other people’s boards, which are then
displayed in your main feed.
So who thought this all up? Ben Silbermann, Evan Sharp, and
Paul Sciarra are the men we pinterest lovers have to thank. Pinterest was
launched in March of 2010, funded by a small group of entrepreneurs and
inventors. After 7 months, the site had
10,000 users. By December, 2011, Pinterest was among the top 10 largest social
network services with 11 million visits per
week. Comscore reports declared the
site to be the fastest in history to break through the 10 million unique
visitor mark.
Personally, I’m not surprised Pinterest holds this
title. Many people love this site because
it’s easy to navigate and aesthetically appealing. Every day there are hundreds of new pins,
keeping the site updated and interesting.
I’ve been an avid “pinner” for over a year now, and I can honestly say
that it’s unlike any social website I’ve seen before. Pinterest inspires people to go out and do things
they wouldn’t have thought of before, like try a new exercise, plan a wedding, or
travel the world. Additionally, when you
pin an image, you pin the link to the original website as well. This is probably my favorite aspect of
Pinterest. I can save an idea, and then
come back to it later because it’s neatly filed away in its corresponding board.
I hope that I’ve explained Pinterest in a way that makes
sense to those who previously weren't sure of what it was. For those of you who currently don’t have an
account, I strongly encourage you to get one! It’s a great place to share your
interests and it’s a great place to get inspired.
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