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Though I'm already quite involved in social media (through my job), there has always been a white spot on my map until now: Pinterest. "Something with images" was all I could say about it. I like text over images and anyway: who needs another portal? As I look around my circle of friends: obviously quite a few. Described to me as "a cross between a photo site, a constructive community and a virtual pin board with a high percentage of female members" by a friend, I seek to find out mainly one thing in my self-experiment: is Pinterest really the better Facebook as some say? Time to register!
As always, I'm required to supply an email address and password to register. After that, I need to pick 5 topics so Pinterest won't start as a bare-bones experience for me. The initial selection is puzzling: there are categories such as men's beards and hairstyles, typography, beer but nothing related to sports, politics or science.I'm just not that easy to classify! I have nothing against men with trendy hairstyles but, honestly, who'd specify this as a field of interest? Is this site meant for barbers with alcohol problems who run their own private newspapers? Next, they try to sneak the "Pinterest browser button" extension into my browser. Naturally, I decline as I like to carefully review my browser plugins beforehand.
The first start is confusing. They simply took my 5 selected topics and indiscriminately added images without any comments or short descriptions. It looks a bit like a Google image search and leaves me puzzled. I expected to be welcomed and carefully introduced to all the features - far from it! If I click on an image, I'm given details on who pinned (shared) them and links to the sites they come from. Some images also include comments, additional information or page recommendations but it's the links to their original sites that is the most important bit of information here. A huge amount of similar or related content is displayed below each image - that's interesting! There, I can find a lot of well-researched and relevant articles that would likely show up at the bottom of Google's search results.
Clicking my profile image shows me more of the "pin" principle. Whatever I find exciting on Pinterest ends up on my personal pin board. If I like a result, I simply click "Save". This way, I can create individual boards based on my interests (in my case traveling, photography etc.) and pin relevant sites there. It makes organizing sites far easier than using traditional bookmarks - and the result is a lot prettier too! I still need the "Pinterest browser button" to share a site on Pinterest though. That's a small browser extension that enables me to click any image on the page I'm currently on and pin it to create a new public Pinterest entry. If I want, I can also create a "secret" pin board for sites I'd rather not share with others.
Since this type of search is entirely based on images and image quality, pictures of your breakfast taken through a cheap lens of a $90 cellphone won't get you anywhere - no matter how interesting the related content may be! That's one of the weaknesses of Pinterest. Only eye candy stands out and it's obvious the site is all about lifestyle. That means fitness, modern nutrition, carefully trimmed beards and fashion rank among the top hits. But don't write off Pinterest as paradise for hipsters and attention-seekers just yet. 200 million are already using the service - there's bound to be some smart and fascinating people among them.
Where style rules - even cucumber salads look chic
Pinterest comes down to a kind of search engine guided by human recommendations. While Google's algorithms use machine-learning to detect relevant content (which often goes wrong and is prone to fraud), Pinterest has a human touch and that, much to my surprise, leads to amazingly stunning results. Whether you're searching for traveling tips, cooking recipes or photography ideas, great results are always just a few clicks away. The service emphasizes the social community idea over comments and chats - it's not really comparable to Facebook.
Yet, Pinterest is appealing because it's different. Even without a tutorial, I quickly found my way around and had picked my interests and members to follow within just minutes. After that, it's basically follow the links with surprisingly very few of them broken (after all, you only see a single preview image each time). Yes, there are ads (it's the Internet!) but not too many for most topics. If you're looking for a sense of community and the exchange of ideas, you might be disappointed. There is a myriad of good and visually pleasing suggestions for places to visit though and, with over 100 billion new pins every year, there's a steady supply of fresh articles that will definitely help your pin board grow. If you don't like creating and managing tpms of bookmarks but you'd still like to keep track of all the sites you visit, Pinterest is ideal for you. Whether you really need Pinterest is another matter entirely. There are alreay many sites that are neatly designed and fun without being essential and Pinterest is certainly one of them.
What I would like to know: do you already use Pinterest or will you give the service a try?
David Penrose and others need not de-register from Pinterest. By clicking on the "..." sign near the top right corner you can change many settings, including notifications. It takes just a minute or two and is well worth that time.
I like Pinterest, as it contains some great pics and stories not found elseware
I have been using Pinterest for several years now and find it very entertaining most of the time. These days I don't pin a lot as it gets pretty time consuming and sometimes they are sending you a lot of repeat products.
I find I can skip through a lot of the emails they send by clicking on the NOT NOW button after opening when asked to log on and also when they put the sign in page up in front, if you click to the blank space along side you can just remove it. This way you can skip through their current sends quickly to find your interests.
I dabbled with Pinterest earlier this year when my wife and I were planning a city break in Seville. I found it quite useful to collect quite a lot of PDF brochures, web articles and images in one place, in order to research the best things to see and do in the city.
However, as with so much content on the internet, I have since found that Pinterest can quickly become too much of a good thing. Despite the fact that our trip is over and done with, I still get bombarded with information about other topics, notifications about who has looked at my pins, and so on. It's an almost daily occurrence.
So I shall be de-registering myself from Pinterest. I might use it again for a similar project in the future, but right now it's more inbox-clutter than it's worth.
Pinterest is good for storing resource pages with their links intact for writing articles. Is that the same as bookmarks? Plus other users help by posting images to my open boards. I get two emails a day and it is quite amazing how they match my interests. I toss many items over to Pinterest as I surf the net as I will do with your article.
I use it a few time a week for various creative projects that my wife and I do in our retirement.
Pinterest.
I use it far less today, almost never, since in my experience as an early adapter of the site(s) it has become difficult to navigate and for some reason has to me an unbelievably difficult sign- in/entry.
The site is loaded with ad scripts (AdBlock and NoScript proves that), and the real downfall for me is if you do a search ( google, bing, any other) on just about anything, Pinterest clogs the search pages. I now HAVE TO use the minus(-) modifier.
My suggestion to you and you readers would be to use it sparingly and with a good knowledge of how to navigate it.
I disagree with the first part of your last paragraph. That said, Facebook is not a favorite either.
For some, like myself and other "power" users and a good percentage of your readers and users of Ashampoo utilities, a 'modified' general search is a better alternative. After all isn't that why Ashampoo makes software, to get to the specific answer fast in a cluttered facebook world?
Also I thought your post was more a "sell" and less a review.
NR
Washington DC
Yes, I use Pinterest and have found many useful tips on many different subjects.
Personally, I wouldn't be without it ! ! !
Thank you Sven for the regular variety of subjects which you create.
I have an interest in Pinterest relating to woodwork and house construction methods which show a variety of material which is used by creative people who also 'think outside the square' using driftwood and forest 'waste'.
I have been using PInterest for several months now,found by accident originally, whilst researching a photo of American Flat Track racing that interested me.
Its sort of snowballed since then and I enjoy looking at the photo's that come up every day and then saving the ones I like. Join and enjoy.
I use it occasionally for an "uplift", feel good ideas.
Enjoy using Pinterest and being connected through their site brings up a lot of interesting sites related to my selected fields of interest.
Some links take you to defunct websites and some sites want personal information but that's the Internet though isn't it. Searching Container Homes and Wind Power brings up interesting information. There are lots of interesting scientific sites but not listed as science but rather under topics like Batteries or Off Grid Living. Happy Pinteresting
No, I have never used Pinterest and don't foresee me doing so. Nor do I use facebook or Twitter. I feel I would be too bombarded by irrelevant stuff and I'd have to spend hours separating the wheat from the chaff.