The bulltin board of the 21st century.
"Pinning," a newly coined term, has taken over the lives of women....and men (although that might come as a surprise to you) anywhere from 17-50 years of age across the US.
Pinterest was first launched in 2010 as an invitation site only, soon after the invitation process evolved to accessibility through the submission of your personal email address.
The Pinterest website allows for it's members to organize and create different theme-based photographic collections. The first page you see when you login to the website are the most recently 'pinned' photographs. The categories of images are broad- as pictured to the right- you can see the drop down menu for the websites' mass organization of the collection of photographs from all users.
The main idea behind Pinterest is that it provides the opportunity to socially share photos of personal interest on a virtual pin-board.
A pin is the actual image uploaded to Pinterest, it can be an image that you uploaded from your computer, or an image you linked from another website, and with every pin users have the ability to add their own caption. The wonderful thing about Pinterest, that has so many people starry-eyed over this phenomena, is that you can take inspiration from other users' pins by repinning.
The act of repinning happens when you come across a photo already shared on a pinterest board by someone else. If it's a photo that you draw a connection to, something you want to remember, or something that inspires you- repinning the photo to one of your own pinboards is a way to ensure that you'll be able to find the photo again if you wish to do so.
When I sign in to my Pinterest account, the picture to the left is the first thing that I see. One of the aspects about Pinterest that I enjoy most, is that its service mirrors the personalization you find with Pandora, the streaming music player.
On pinterest, when you repin an image that is of pinterest to you- another offered feature is the ability to follow certain users' pins. Meaning that when you log into your own pinterest account, the scrolling images that will be at the forefront of your screen, are those that have been previously pinned by people you decidedly follow. Much like pandora, which customizes your listening experience based off of the musicians or genres you input as being something your interested in, Pinterest customizes your viewing experience, and thus begins the hours on end of pinning your day away!
In August of 2011, Time Magazine published Pinterest in its "50 Best Websites of 2011" column. According to Hitwise Data, in December of 2011 Pinterest made it to number 5 on the the Top 10 Social Networking Websites charts. Managed by Cold Brew Labs, a small team in Palo Alto, CA- Pinterest has quickly become one of the most trafficked social networking website in existence today.
The Pinterest Mission Statement-which is made available on their website- reads,
"Our goal is to connect everyone in the world through the 'things' they find interesting. We think that a favorite book, toy, or recipe can reveal a common link between two people. With millions of new pins added every week, Pinterest is connecting people all over the world based on shared tastes and interests."
As an avid user of Pinterest myself, repinning images daily from friends of mine all over the country- I can confidentially say Pinterest has truly succeeded in their mission of connecting people through photographs.
No comments:
Post a Comment