I got an invitation to Pinterest two weeks ago. I had seen buzz about it in other social media sites since the beginning of this year. At first I thought well it is just another start up that I really did not want to join, because  the last one I joined was Google + last year and am still not sure what am supposed to be doing with it yet.

Pinterest am told has been around since 201o,but gained popularity in 2011, and now statistics are putting it’s membership at 10 million, majority of who joined last year and at the beginning of this year. Majority of these users are also said to be women, and it is evident from the items shared on the boards.

My interest in social media this time around, is purely business oriented. Am working at projects which are all about building communities around brands, Facebook and Twitter have been of great use in this regard. Google + introduced pages for business, this am still reading up on from the vast pages created by the early adopters. So with Pinterest I did not know where to start.

Again you will understand my hesitance in joining Pinterest since in my small corner of the world, social media for business is still kind of a myth. Majority of the internet users,use it to catch up with their friends and family not for business, Facebook especially happens to have the largest share of these internet users. So I had no motivation to join Pinterest.

My Experience with Pinterest

Anyway, a week later curiosity got the better of me and I joined Pinterest. Prior to joining, I had visited the sited, the Boards and Pins idea of sharing was all new to me, having used StumbleUpon minimally. But I loved what I saw on boards. So when I joined it become a whole new experience for me.

I must warn you though, it is addictive. My confession on the first day I spent an hour just browsing the site. The second time was worse, I spent three hours. I can justify spending this much time there, I was setting up my boards and then I discovered any image I saw and liked, I could also repin and would appear on my board. How cool was that!!!

This is a woman’s site, yeah, there are a few guy things but majority of the boards are filled will girls stuff, fashion wedding stuff, shoes, accessories, home decor, great stuff. I love the sharing.

So What is Pinterest?

As they have put it clearly on their board, Pinterest is a virtual pinboard which lets you share your favorite things from the web or your own collection. There are those who have used it to plan their wedding, to decorate their homes and other share their personal style.

My favorite pins are the pastries. I like that I can go to different boards, see some thing I like and repin it to my board, if it is a recipe I can try my hand on it later.Others also repin your stuff and follow you, it is cool.

With pinterest, it is not about trying to keep up with your friends but having your favorite things in a one place. A collection of your must haves, wish list, dreams, pastries that you can only look at and can not dare indulge in (your doctor would have a fit if you did).

Let me go back to Pinterest, see what’s new and repin some more. Follow me at http://pinterest.com/allencole/, it is so much fun.

 

 

 

Written by: 

Pauline is the CEO at Allen Cole, also consults for iWork and Elite Writers Hub. She works with small and medium size organizations to increase their visibility online through corporate blogging, content creation, website development and social media engagement.