[PINNED] Clowns, Snakes and Chainsaws
I knew a woman who started collecting figurines of clowns, just a couple of unique and beautiful pieces per years. Suddenly, everyone who knew her began giving her clowns for birthdays, holidays, and other occasions. Some were up to her discriminating tastes, most were kitsch. What does this have to do with Pinterest, the fun photo sharing website? A lot, actually! Read on to learn the basics of using Pinterest... |
Getting Started On Pinterest
The same thing happened to another friend after he got two snakes. All the neighborhood kids brought the snakes, lizards, spiders, and other creepy-crawlies they found to “the snake guy, because he’ll know what to do with them.”
That’s the way Pinterest works. You post pictures of things you like for others to admire. The next thing you know, you’re up to your browser’s menu bar in pictures of things you like, including links to the sites from which they came. You may also end up with pictures you’d rather not have.
Pinterest is a “catalog of ideas,” according to its CEO, Ben Silbermann. It’s purpose is to inspire people to “go out and do that thing,” not just share pictures and opinions about them. Indeed, you will find plenty of Pinterest collections devoted to arts and crafts, cooking, fashion, home decor, and other interests. Many are linked to tutorials on how to do that thing, and the tutorials often cost money.
My point is that Pinterest can also be a business tool, not just a place for teenaged girls to post pictures of Justin Bieber (although a lot of that goes on). If you need a good chainsaw, you’ll find recommendations and links to suppliers on Pinterest. If you have something to sell, you can post it on Pinterest and people who are looking for it will find it.
Getting started on Pinterest is easy. Go to the site and register an account with your name, email address, and password. Create a profile of your interests so that Pinterest has an idea of what pictures to show you. Optionally, allow Pinterest to connect to your Facebook or Twitter account; that will make it easier to find friends, family members, brands, and others you may want to follow on Pinterest, and for people on those social media to find you.
Pinning and Re-pinning
Adding a picture - called “pinning a pin” - is as easy as uploading it or providing the website address for it. Then you can categorize it, add tags such as “chainsaw, tools, favorite movie” and comments that give context to the picture.
By default, Pinterest sends you email notifications whenever someone likes one of your pics, follows your Pinterest account, comments on one of your “pins” (something you added to Pinterest), or re-pins one of your pins to his/her Pinterest page. Leave all notifications on when you first start; it will give you feedback on how your pins are received. You can turn off each type of notification or all of them if they become overwhelming.
In the “Goodies” section of your Pinterest account management page, you’ll find the “Pin It Button,” a browser add-on that makes adding items to your Pinterest page one-click simple.
After installing the add-on, you can use it to add pictures found on Web sites; you can also upload pictures from offline storage.
Pins can be organized into various Collections for your interests. Access to Collections can be controlled so that anyone can view your Justin Bieber pics but only family can view your grandkids.
It’s good to interact with other people’s pins. Each like, comment, re-pin, etc., gives Pinterest a better idea what it should be recommending to you. Of course, you may end up seeing pics of chainsaws long after you buy one, but that is the limitation of such “behavioral analysis.” Stop commenting on chainsaws and they’ll soon go away.
I don't want you to think that Pinterest is all about clowns and chainsaws and Justin Beiber. In fact, the most popular topics on Pinterest are Food & Drink, Do-it-yourself & Crafts, and Home Decor. Women do make up about 80% of the Pinterest audience, but men are also actively posting about and searching for things related to Technology, Cars & Motorcycles, Humor and Sports.
Pinterest is a good way to find like-minded people, learn about a topic, attract resources for your hobbies, or find new customers for your business. Give it a try! Are you using Pinterest? Tell us how, in your comment below...
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This article was posted by Bob Rankin on 1 Apr 2016
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Most recent comments on "[PINNED] Clowns, Snakes and Chainsaws"
Posted by:
Cameron
01 Apr 2016
Pintrest is great for organizing various sources for particular how-to projects: webpages, youtube videos, photographs. It's a lot easier than wading through a bunch of cryptic bookmarks. Plus the suggested pins help with finding better descriptions or ideas.
Posted by:
Cameron
01 Apr 2016
Pintrest is great for organizing various sources for particular how-to projects: webpages, youtube videos, photographs. It's a lot easier than wading through a bunch of cryptic bookmarks. Plus the suggested pins help with finding better descriptions or ideas.
Posted by:
Marge
01 Apr 2016
I use Pinterest for cataloging craft ideas and recipes I find. It's easy to find an item again once it is pinned and in a subject folder.
Posted by:
Dianne
01 Apr 2016
Pinterest is the only social media platform I indulge in. It is a good place to put ideas, or things I want to follow up on, or special interests. The spam is minimal on the site and I don't think gotten any spam via email (which I can't say about LinkedIn which is the only other platform I tried and quit because of the annoying avalanche of spam). On the boards I follow, there's none of the meanness and hatred that I've read is revealed on Facebook or Twitter. I hope Pinterest can keep its positive atmosphere as it grows.
Posted by:
Ryan
01 Apr 2016
I love to post humorous things there, but I also use it for finding recipes. I have discovered over two dozen recipes that I have actually cooked and am thrilled to have found them so easily.
I also use it to market our B and B. That said, have a hidden category used for planning vacation ideas.
Posted by:
Annette
01 Apr 2016
I can indulge my weakness for silly animal pictures. But, it also allows me to gather book information, home decor ideas, embroidery ideas, recipes, thoughts on faith and silly jokes. And - I do not get anything snarky unless it is a joke I choose. Evidently the mean people have not figured out a way to mess it up.
Posted by:
Chuck Meyer
01 Apr 2016
Enthusiastic user of Pinterest. You can create and title a Board of any interest you choose and then pin photos and captions from anywhere to put onto your board, from Science to politics, to social and environmental issues. I have about 100 boards and about 10K followers and it is so much fun to have long conversations with like-minded souls.
Posted by:
Jay R
01 Apr 2016
OMG. More stuff to learn. I thot Compound Pinterest was a thing of the arithmetical past.Bob, I have gotten 146% smarter after this one. Before I read you email today, I didn't have a clue about Pinterest and didn't really want one. You make learning fun.
Posted by:
Jean
01 Apr 2016
Thanks for the information. My niece just sent me a recipe on Pinterest, and I wasn't sure how to retrieve it. I signed up, but wasn't sure what I was doing. I had to pick 5 topics of interest when all I wanted was the recipe. I'm still not real sure how to use it, but guess I will learn.
Posted by:
Lloyd Collins
01 Apr 2016
I joined Pinterest, and not by choice. I went to look at pictures seen on a Google search, and they blocked the view with the banner to join. All I wanted to do was look at the pictures, now a member of another site I didn't want to join.
Posted by:
sandy Papavasiliou
02 Apr 2016
I have been using pinterest for ages for ideas on mosiac tiling as that is my hobby. I print likely pictures to give me inspiration. I share the photos worth friends who are in my craft group. Very handy.
Posted by:
cal67
02 Apr 2016
We had to block Pinterest for our daughter because a crochet group had tons of explicit hardcore anal sex pictures posted. Trying to report was difficult, and it's impossible to block specific users. So, Pinterest is gone until they can do a better job of preventing scumbags.
Posted by:
MmeMoxie
03 Apr 2016
I tried Pinterest and basically hated it. I had my account for only a couple of weeks before I deleted it.
I was interested in recipes and found some really good ones. Then all of a sudden, I had a gazillion recipes, way to many to ever use or enjoy. I had people I didn't even know, following me. That is when I decided to delete my account.
I like my privacy and Pinterest was way too invasive of my privacy.
Posted by:
MamaT
04 Apr 2016
I love Pinterest! I collect crochet patterns (but I have never run across skeevy stuff in doing so, thank goodness), recipes, fun ideas for crafts with the grandkids, funny sayings that I like, etc. It was way addictive at first, but that burned off - now it is a nice tool. I'm not worried about the people following me on the site - they'll get bored soon enough with looking at baby afghans!
Posted by:
pshaw
04 Apr 2016
I have wondered what Pinterest is. Thanks for explaining it so well. You've saved me the trouble of investigating it. Definitely won't be joining this. I can't keep up with what comes into my email now.
Posted by:
Monte Crooks
27 Jun 2016
My only complaint about Pinterest is that my waistline is expanding from all the great goodies my wife and her sisters find on it. Talk about the proof in the pudding, or cake, or casserole, or.....etc. etc. etc.
I have to say that I've really enjoyed every one, so either my wife is very picky, or Pinterest just has good food to-dos online! Thanks again, BOB!!