The Relative Coolness of Pinterest

It seems like every day there’s another online social “tool” trying to get you to sign up for their service. In spite of this, I am smitten with Pinterest. Perhaps it came along at the perfect time: Right as I was growing very tired of seeing the many posts by old high school “friends” on my Facebook wall. Pinterest was the perfect opportunity for me to start a fresh online social experiment, and get some great design ideas at the same time! Here’s why I like it so much:

• Value – Lately, I’ve been starting a new approach to my time online. Whenever I automatically access a particular blog, social site or news site, I ask myself what value I’m getting from the site. I’m a bit of an introvert and it’s very easy for me to spend gobs of time online, only to ask later, what the heck did I get out of all that time?
  The value in Pinterest for me is the fact that it’s centered on particular boards and pins. It’s not simply a soapbox for all the users, in a way that most social sites are. Don’t get me wrong, I love hearing my best friend’s online status, checking out her photos or replying to her messages. Other people … well, I don’t always want to be a victim of their soapbox. On Pinterest, it’s less about “here’s why my day was awful/great” or “here’s a picture of me in a bikini.” It’s about finding cool things and sharing them, rather than sharing cool things about yourself.
• Site Design – The other thing I love about Pinterest: The visual nature of the setup. It’s easy to scroll through other people’s boards and spot things of interest and it’s easy to skip right past the things you know you aren’t jazzed about. I myself am a bit of a fashion guru, and I love browsing the boards of fashionable friends and other Pinners who focus on new looks. Pinterest’s scrolling site design is much faster than sifting through fashion blogs.
• Organization – Besides the social aspect of Pinterest, it also has utility in that you can easily organize pin boards around particular projects you are working on. I was recently doing a test run with a vegetarian diet and I used a board to keep track of veggie recipes that I liked. When redoing the interior design in your apartment or home you can use a board to gather cool patterns and pieces of furniture. Piniterest can allow you to collect ideas from intereior design experts all in one place. Unlike other social media, Pinterest has a very clear concept that is easy to describe to friends when they are wondering what the site is for.

- Written by featured writer Leslie Branch
 

Sources

“The New York Times” (2012)
“USA Today” (2012)