Pinterest is the newest social media kid on the block and one of the most addictive sites around. What Twitter did for text, Pinterest does for images.
The idea behind it is simple, you “pin” images you find around the Web onto various pinboards, according to various themes.
Sign Up
If I’ve piqued your interest, you’ll want to sign up. You’ll have to wait for an invite, though I may or may not have gotten lucky thanks to a fellow Walyou writer who happened to have some invites.
Create Pinboards
The important part of Pinterest is creating pinboards. You can have as many as you like. In a nutshell, they’re just photoblogs that you can put whatever you want on.
Follow Pinboards
Just like much of the value of Twitter comes from who you follow, the same thing applies to Pinterest. Do you like someone’s posts? Follow them.
Use the Pin It button
You can post pictures using the Pinterest site itself, but it’s much easier to use the “Pin It!” bookmarklet. Just go to the page and drag it into you bookmarks toolbar. The above video shows an example for Firefox, because that’s what I happen to use.
Got a site? Put a Pinterest Button on it.
If you have a site, you can easily install a button to allow people to pin images and even follow you if you have an account. And speaking of sites, we’ve got an account too!
Remember Pinboard Etiquette
Every online community has its own etiquette, and Pinboard is no exception. Fortunately it’s pretty simple and it’s just a matter of not being a jerk on the Internet. Just be nice, credit the sources you use for images, don’t promote yourself, and don’t post any NSFW stuff.
Repin
Sir Isaac Newton said if he’s seen as far as he could, it was because he stood on the shoulders of giants. Pinterest works the same way. You can “repin” other people’s photos, much like retweeting or reblogging.
Install the iPhone app
Got an iPhone? Then you can install the app, which not only lets you do the same things you can do on the site, you can pin photos from your iPhone’s camera.
Follow Categories
You can not only follow individual users, but also follow categories. One of my favorites is food, if the “repin” screenshot didn’t make that obvious.
Pin Videos
Not only can you pin still images, but you can also add videos as well.
If you like Pinterest’s simplicity, you’ll want to check out our post on Notification Control and Kippt, a dead-simple bookmarking app.
