Unless you've been hiding in Google+ waiting for it to 'take off' for the past few months, you must have heard that Pinterest is the best thing since hot buttery sliced toast.
Pinterest at this time, is the fastest-growing social-media site in the world. It lets users visually organize their online world. Simple to use, it serves as an online scrapbook or bulletin board. Visitors create themed boards on which they put photos - A 'Pin'.
With Pinboards full of everything from 'cupcake designs' to 'toilets of hotels' (this could be my next board), it seems everyone is pinning their socks off.
Why?
Initially, it appealed to the housewives of America but since landing on these shores, it seems to be a bit cooler. At last we have a visual place where we can catalogue all the stuff we find (P)interesting - whether that be funny, indulgent, historical or you're building up a catalogue of hints, tips and inspiration for anything from Weddings to Star tattoos.
It was a bit like Twitter, we knew that only the cool kids were using it, we had no idea how it worked but we wanted it. It was all about getting the invite, becoming an early adopter - we'll work out how to use it afterwards.
However, unlike Twitter, it is really easy to use and everything's here - and if it's not, you just create a board of it. As we're becoming more visual creatures it's more satisfying looking at pictures than reading something squashed into 140 characters.
Speaking as a copywriter, I realise i'm dumbing down my own profession but there are still plenty of brochures, blogs, mailers and articles that need long sentences of opinions, adjectives and metaphors. And anyway, who says we can't appreciate a picture or a photo of a hotel toilet like normal people?
And that's what's nice about Pinterest, no-one has to worry about writing something witty, funny or controversial just to get people to like/follow us (Twitter). It's less about being socially accepted here. There's a more relaxed vibe here. It's 'this is the stuff I like, if you like it too, then that's groovy.' No-one is as cutting or opinionated here, it's all peace & love for the time being. Of course, the spammers will get here (if they're not here already) and we'll turn on each other, but for the time being, everyone seems to be enjoying the ride.
I suppose the only thing with Pinterest is don't spread yourself too thin. Don't make a board too specific that there's only a couple of things on each. Nothing looks more desperate than an empty board (it makes you look less interesting - that completely contradicts my previous paragraph).
I for one, love the place for the very reason everybody else does. You can see how uncool I am here
Pinterest/Monza77
Why?
Initially, it appealed to the housewives of America but since landing on these shores, it seems to be a bit cooler. At last we have a visual place where we can catalogue all the stuff we find (P)interesting - whether that be funny, indulgent, historical or you're building up a catalogue of hints, tips and inspiration for anything from Weddings to Star tattoos.
It was a bit like Twitter, we knew that only the cool kids were using it, we had no idea how it worked but we wanted it. It was all about getting the invite, becoming an early adopter - we'll work out how to use it afterwards.
However, unlike Twitter, it is really easy to use and everything's here - and if it's not, you just create a board of it. As we're becoming more visual creatures it's more satisfying looking at pictures than reading something squashed into 140 characters.
Speaking as a copywriter, I realise i'm dumbing down my own profession but there are still plenty of brochures, blogs, mailers and articles that need long sentences of opinions, adjectives and metaphors. And anyway, who says we can't appreciate a picture or a photo of a hotel toilet like normal people?
And that's what's nice about Pinterest, no-one has to worry about writing something witty, funny or controversial just to get people to like/follow us (Twitter). It's less about being socially accepted here. There's a more relaxed vibe here. It's 'this is the stuff I like, if you like it too, then that's groovy.' No-one is as cutting or opinionated here, it's all peace & love for the time being. Of course, the spammers will get here (if they're not here already) and we'll turn on each other, but for the time being, everyone seems to be enjoying the ride.
I suppose the only thing with Pinterest is don't spread yourself too thin. Don't make a board too specific that there's only a couple of things on each. Nothing looks more desperate than an empty board (it makes you look less interesting - that completely contradicts my previous paragraph).
I for one, love the place for the very reason everybody else does. You can see how uncool I am here
Pinterest/Monza77
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