The Usefulness of Pinterest

Okay, I'm finally talking about Pinterest here, so if you already know the deal, pickle... feel free to move on to the next blog in your Reader.  I am compelled to write about it today for the sake of a few yet-to-be-named non-Pinterest friends.  I really should have talked about it on In Decent Order before now. After all... this is a blog about organization.  I think.

Various people use Pinterest in different ways and for different reasons.  A few of my creative and crafty friends are reluctant to get on the Pinterest bandwagon and I wonder if it's because they don't want a time waster or maybe they think it's another social network.  So, yeah, this is my last ditch effort to get a couple of friends to reconsider their position that Pinterest is overwhelming.

• For me, Pinterest is primarily a tool.  This is an important distinction because for some, Pinterest might be primarily a leisure activity.  

• It is a tool because it allows for a highly visual way of organizing internet stuff.

• In your Pinterest profile, there are a collection of virtual bulletin boards of various catergories that you name, and you "pin" a photo to it.  The pin/photo is attached to a link so you can find the item you pinned before.

• I've seen lots of types of pins out there.... home decor, recipes, teaching aids, crafts, holidays, drumming related items (that would be Dave).  Pinterest is like your internet browser's favorites list, but far more visual.  It's not just a random link in your favorites list, but it's a photo that takes you to the source of the photo.

• Pinterest is not another Facebook, or The City, or Twitter that you have to consistently maintain.  Yes, there are friends (actually "followers"), but the purpose of following friends on Pinterest isn't to keep up with each other's illness, vacations and kids' photos.  It's to see what your other visual-type friends are pinning.  For example, my friend Alyssa often pins quilting ideas.  I sometimes re-pin her pins to my own sewing board because I don't want to forget a certain technique or quilting method that she pinned (or if you prefer, "publicly bookmarked" instead of "pinned").

• So back to the idea that it is a leisure activity for some people.... if you have time to kill, or are looking for something to do or somewhere to go, certainly you could spend half an hour (or two hours) looking at your Pinterest feed at what your friends are pinning.  Or you can search all of Pinterest for what other people have pinned related to something you want to do.... I did a search for rain barrels recently.  It was nice because it saved me from having to do a broad internet search on the same topic.  For me, it weeded out a lot of useless links.

• But, even if you never looked at your Pinterest feed, having the "Pin It" tool in your browser so you can mark stuff you want to remember is extremely useful.  I have a dude-friend who uses Pinterest for organization, but he has no followers and follows nobody.  I mean, it *is* fun to share the ideas, but that wasn't the point for him.

• Pinterest isn't just for the crafty folks, but certainly because of it's visual nature, lots of crafty folk use it and pin crafty things.  

• One of my friends uses Evernote, so maybe she wouldn't find Pinterest nearly as useful as someone who has no internet organization method at all.

• My fear is that even with my little bullets, all these words have made it seem complicated.  But, really... it's not.   

This photo is from my Pinterest feed today.  Each small photo is equivalent to one "story" in Facebook.  Some items have likes or comments, but most don't.  On my Facebook the other day, my feed was full of unrelated items like Russsian bullets, pie-making, movie-watching, and parenting... similarly, this Pinterest feed represents the interests of each unique person who I follow.  So there are pins of recipes, a Chewbacca sewing idea, jewelry organization, clothing, and nursery decor, etc.  

One last thing, and it's not really my story to tell, but I must share it.  My friend Jennifer told me how some of her crafty friends get together regularly to have "Pinterest Parties."  Everyone brings a crafty project that they have pinned, but haven't had time to get to.  They work on their stuff together while hanging out. They must do this as sort of an anti-procrastination thing... it's easy to pin a lot of project ideas, or recipes, or books, and maybe have no follow through.  This is their way of following through... and it sounds fun.  Anyhow, she told me that after their latest Pinterest party, she and some of the other women were driving home together late at night when they got pulled over for a "broken light."  Apparently, the cop kept grilling them, asking them if they were going out and if they were partying, etc.  Jennifer said to me, "Tara!  Couldn't he see that we were all wearing cardigans?  I mean, I  had a glue gun at my feet and a bowl of oatmeal cookies in my lap.  Who does he think we are?"

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So, did it work?  Did my last plea convince Tami, Chelsea, Chelsie, Lisa, Lori and Aimee to join? We'll see.  If not, I'll have to be content with connecting on a visual and creative level without you. Sad face.