Some of you may already know what Pinterest is and use it daily (like I do), some of you might have heard of it or seen the “Pin It” button around various parts of the web, and yet others might have no clue about what I’m talking about! For those of you who don’t know what it is or would like to know more, you might be signing up for an account shortly.
Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. It’s a virtual pinboard. People use and create various pinboards to help organize, share, collect and dream about things they would like to have or do. For instance, the wedding you want to have one day, the glamorous dinner parties you want to throw on the weekends or the dream house you one day hope to have.
The Pinterest website allows you to look at all the pretty pins other pinners have been pinning (don’t worry, you’ll have the lingo down soon). A pin is an image that is added to Pinterest. It can be added from a website using the Pin It button (most sites these days have added this handy button that allows you to quickly and easily pin something to one of your boards you’ve created on the Pinterest site) or you can upload images from your computer or smart phone.
Each pin links back to the original web page or image source it came from, so you always have a point of reference. A pin might be a chocolate cupcake recipe you want to try later, a dress you want to wear to your brother’s wedding next summer or a DIY bathroom cleaner you can make from three ingredients (I think Pinterest might be sponsored by the baking soda industry…).
A board is a set of pins and can be created on any topic. Examples of boards that I currently have are “Love me some Foods”, a board with 160 different recipes I want to try, “Just call me Crafty”, a board with 25 different do-it-yourself projects I want to attempt (ok, I like food more than I do crafts) and “Design Inspire-ations”, my board where I pin inspirational graphic design, typography and colors.
With the holiday season upon us, Pinterest can be a great resource to make shopping easier and give you some great gift ideas. For those of you who are online shoppers (or find what you want online and buy locally), you can organize all your gift ideas onto a board or multiple boards on Pinterest. It can be your virtual gift or wish list.
Pinterest even recently added a new feature allowing you to have “secret boards” where only you can view them, since by default, the boards you create are public. (There are some settings to either hide or show your content in website search engines, too, if you’re mindful about privacy.) This way, you can keep your gifts for others your lil’ secret. Pinterest has a great free app for iPhone allowing you to review your boards on-the-go. Not only does this come in handy when you’re out shopping for gift (e.g. “What was that awesome thing I wanted to get my mom again?”), but I usually check out my “Love me some Foods” board while at the grocery store for good dinner ideas.
We recently added the Pin It button to the collection of social media buttons on our website making it easy to pin your favorite Apple products and accessories — you’re welcome! If you don’t have a Pinterest account just yet, I’d strongly suggest getting one. It used to be by invitation only but now you can simply sign up.
Of course, Small Dog has a Pinterest account as well, since we’re excited to find and share the products, geeky stuff, tattoos, and dogs we love! We also love to pin anything Vermont or New Hampshire-related, people who inspire us, and overall fun things.
True story: I kept telling Kerry here in the office — who loves all sorts of glamorous things — to sign up for Pinterest. She kept saying “no, no,” because it seemed too overwhelming. Finally, months later, she signed up. She came into the office today looking a little tired. Why? She was up all night pinning away. Told ya so!
You too, will be addicted in no time.
Follow Small Dog Electronics’ Pinterest boards here:
Pinterest.com/hellosmalldog