For years, people have been hearing others comment on a new person they’re following on twitter or the pros and cons of Facebook’s new timeline layout, but there’s a new social networking site that has people talking. Its name is Pinterest.
“I can hardly go a day without someone saying the phrase, ‘That looks like something I saw on Pinterest’,” says junior Samantha Spillers.
This website, created in 2010, has just now begun to become a popular site among brides-to-be, chefs, fashionistas, and people just looking for ideas. It has become such a fad that Time Magazine has named it #38 of the 50 best new websites.
Pinterest has just about everything ranging from recipes to prom dresses to exotic places all in one place. If you were to see something you liked on the internet, whether it be a hairstyle, a cool car, or a picture of nature, you can “pin” it on your board for followers to see and if they like it they can “re-pin” it.
“It’s a great place to find cute clothes, craft ideas, delicious foods, and anything else you would ever want to see, and I am addicted!” says senior Annie McCormick.
“A person’s pin-board can really help you understand them better,” says District 7 occupational therapist Roxanne Howald. “Since a picture is worth a thousand words, you can learn so much about a person with a full board.”
Another plus to this quirky website is that there are almost no limitations to what you might find. Following a person can lead to another and another into what blogger Rachael Devine calls the “Alice in Wonderland hole of amazing stuff.”
“Basically Pinterest is my favorite site,” says junior Maryssa Lynn. “It’s so addicting and I love everything about it. I look up and pin everything from recipes to prom dresses and hairstyles. It’s so full of fun and creative ideas that I’d love to try or do. The only thing I don’t like is that it’s so addicting!”
So what actually brought about this new form of web self-expression? In an interview with blogger Kim Stoegbauer, the co-founder of Pinterest, Ben Silbermann, says that the idea came to him from his collections as a kid. He felt that those collections could really tell a lot about a person, and thought it’d be a neat idea to “bring the entire experience online and help connect people who have common interests”.
Although Pinterest is essentially a female-dominated website, men are beginning to find that Pinterest is not just for women. A sports category, along with cars and motorcycles, and humor has been unofficially labeled as the “manly-pins,” where guys can express themselves without seeming too “feminine.”
Many other social networking sites share what a person is doing and/or feeling at that particular time. Pinterest shows more what that person is about, or the substance of that person.
“I like Pinterest for three reasons,” says junior Abby Kate Avera. “For starters, it inspires new projects for me to work on. Second, it gives me a place to express myself to others on the internet in a positive way and third, unlike other websites, in general it’s a positive and encouraging site.”
All in all, Pinterest is a website that just about anyone can find something useful on. The only downside of pinning is that you do it at your own risk. ‘One minute’ can turn into hours on this addicting site.