10 Aug
Pinterest Explained
I’m assuming that a lot of you know what Pinterest is, but I love the site so much that I wanted to make sure EVERYONE knows about it. Once upon a time Google had a service called Google Notebook. I still use it, but it’s now become a site that you can only access if you used it previously. I use it to bookmark all sorts of things, like articles on birth, parenting, Chicago places you recommended that we eat, and a host of other things. It’s an awesome service that I’m grateful to have, but it does have one huge limitation, and that is the ability to bookmark photos (plus the interface overall isn’t very pretty).
Enter Pinterest!
To sum it up, Pinterest is a site you use for bookmarking things, and you do this bookmarking using images. Blogposts/pictures/items for sale/stuff from Flickr/quotes/etc/etc/etc. The one thing you can’t use Pinterest to bookmark is articles with no pictures or sites that use flash (that’s where Google Notebook still comes in handy for me).
When I was wedding planning this would have been a lifesaver! I had folders and folders full of pictures which had no sources (and thus were pretty much useless when I started writing for Weddingbee), and I couldn’t access them away from my computer, or easily share them with other people. Now I use Pinterest the most for bookmarking recipes, crafts I’d like to try, home decor ideas, photographs I love, and ideas for hair/makeup/outfits.
This is what I see when I clicked on my Pinterest page while writing this post. All those pictures you are seeing are “pins” that other people have saved to their own profile. If I like something I see on this Pinterest page, I click on the picture and pin it myself. Then someone who follows me likes it and pins it, and that keeps happening over and over. It’s fun to see what becomes popular!
If you’re browsing the internet and you see something you like, pinning is very easy here as well. Visit this page, and drag the “Pin It” button up to your toolbar. When you are ready to pin a picture and save it for later reference, you click on the Pin It button on your toolbar. Step two is selecting the picture you like best. Step three involves a box that pops up and asks where you want to store the pin in your boards, and asks for a description.
Quick note about pinning, try to remember to pin from the actual page where the picture/tutorial/post is, not the homepage. For instance, if you were pinning this granola recipe you would pin from https://thatwifeblog.com/2011/07/gluten-free-granola/, not from https://thatwifeblog.com. That makes it easier for everyone to find what you pinned later on.
You’re going to want to separate your pins into boards, so you can easily find them later. My Make It Again board is probably my favorite, I access it all the time to look up recipes I’ve used and liked previously. I’m also using Pinterest to help plan our Italy vacation, ookmarking beautiful photos, trying to figure out a knock-your-socks-off Jenna Cole packaging approach for my clients, and marking posts that give tips to help me “go green” with cleaning and beauty products. Yesterday I used it to make a board compiling all the ideas that I plan to use for making a church bag, based on your suggestions.
On Pinterest, you follow the people/boards you like. One of my favorite people to follow is actually the mom of one of my friends! (He was the “bridesman” in my wedding party if you followed my wedding blogging). She pins a lot of stuff, and I love looking through to see what she found interesting.
I have two options when I visit her profile. I can follow all of her boards (arrow on the left) or I can follow individual boards (arrow in the middle).
To use Pinterest, you need an invite, which I would be happy to send to anyone who asks for one in the comment section below. You can follow my pins/boards on my Jenna Cole Pinterest page once you have an account!
Blushink reminded me that Pinterest has an etiquette page, which is a great resource for those who want to learn how to play nice on the site.
I'm a farm-raised almost-crunchy stroller-pushing picture-taking lifestyle-blog-writing gastronomy-obsessed divine-seeking thrift-store-combing cheese-inhaling pavement-pounding laughter-sprinkling lover of individuality and taking chances.
I LOVE Pinterest. I resisted for a long time, but as soon as I sat down and looked at it for a few minutes I was hooked! And I love following your boards
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1I would love an invite! I’ve been meaning to check it out for awhile, but haven’t gotten around to it yet.
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2Oooh, a make it again board is a great idea! I’ve made a lot of the recipes I’ve Pinned, it’d be good to separate them out!
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3I just got an account a couple of weeks ago. Addicting.
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4Love pinterest way too much - I wish the app was better, but with every build it’s been crashing less and less.
I’m also working to pin via iPad - if you have a solution let me know!
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5I’ve been meaning to get on board with pinterest. I would love an invitation! My email is alana.r.lindsey@gmail.com!
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6I would love an invitation as well! You explained it so well and now I think I could do it!
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7I would love an invite. I’ve seen it mentioned a ton on the interwebs, but this post is the first that has actually made it seem appealing!
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8Hi Jenna. Just wanted to say that I’ve been reading your blog for ages, and I so much appreciate how generous you are with information like this - it must have taken a while to put this post together, just so people new to pinterest (like me) would actually understand it. I’ve heard about it a few times, but now that you’ve explained it I think I’d really love to join! Could I please have an invite as well?
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Jenna Reply:
August 10th, 2011 at 12:29 pm
This is so kind Amy! Posts like this do take a lot of time, which is why I don’t do them often. You made me feel so nice with this comment <3
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This makes great sense! I would love an invite! Thank you!
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10I love Pinterest! It’s pretty easy to get your own invitation too. All you have to do is sign up. I don’t know how long it takes now since it’s become pretty popular but when I signed up they emailed me and told me to wait for an invitation from them and by the end of the business day I had one.
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11Pinterest is my new favorite! I love it!
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12I love pinterest, but I do wish they had some more privacy options. I have boards going for books and decorating items that I don’t mind being public. However, I wish I could start some “goal” (future babies, weightloss) boards that I could keep private. Does anyone know if this exists? I couldn’t do it the last time I looked.
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13Hey Jenna,
I don’t know if you have a limitation in invites, but I would love one too if you’re able. I’ve heard you mention Pinterest before, but I didn’t know what it was until this great post!
Thank you as always for the heads up, hope your day is going well
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14Looks like fun!! Please send me an invite!!!
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15I would love an invite as well! Pinterest sounds so neat, thanks for explaining!
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16I would appreciate an invite, too! Thanks!!
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17Thanks so much for offering to send an invite, Jenna! I would love to take you up on that. This post is super helpful!
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18I would love an invite; thanks for the offer.
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19If I REALLY have free time, I like to click on my favorite pins and click back to the people and boards it was previously pinned on. If I like something another user likes, I must like their other pins, right? It’s a great way to find new boards to follow!
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20i’d love an invite! i’ve been wanting to try it for a while now.
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21I’m OBSESSED with Pinterest these days! So many cool and beautiful things! Unfortunately, it also makes me aware of things I didn’t know I wanted/needed, hehe
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22Great explanation! I would love an invitation. Thanks so much!
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23i loooove pinterest! ive only had it a few weeks and i already have almost 300 pins!
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24I would love an invitation as well!
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25thanks so much for invite jenna! you’re the bomb.
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26I love Pinterest. I already follow you as Jenna Cole on the site. I wish it had been around when I was wedding planning as well.
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Kayakgirl73 Reply:
August 10th, 2011 at 1:08 pm
I’m not Kayakgirl73 on there. I thought I had to use a real name.
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I follow you on there! I’m twobooswhoeat. I am obsessed. OBSESSED!
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28Great Tutorial! I’ve been explaining to all of my friends who aren’t yet members - I’ll send the next people with questions to this post!
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29I am glad I am not the only one obsessed with Pinterest. Sometimes I feel everybody I know only uses it for the first few days and then forgets about it. It is such a great organization tool though that it’s addicting.
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30I would love an invite! I’ve been hearing about Pinterest for ages now but haven’t been able to get an invite for some reason. Thanks!
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Alice Reply:
August 10th, 2011 at 10:35 pm
Thank you for the invite!!! That was fast. I’m excited to explore!
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I would love an invite. Thanks
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32This is such a great lesson and I would love an invite as well! This is definitely something I’ve looked into and would love to use. Thanks Jenna!
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33Can I please have an invite? I’ve heard so many good things about Pinterest and would love to follow you! I feel like with this tutorial I could actually figure it out too, thanks for putting it together!
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34I would love an invite- thanks for posting and inviting!
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35This is really cool! I would love to have an invite - thank you so much!
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36I would love to give it a try. I’ve been addicted to Evernote for quite some time, seems like a similar, but less boring concept. If you’re able to send me an invite, I’d really appreciate it.
Thanks for putting together posts like this Jenna! They’re so interesting, you make a great teacher!
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37I’m also on the “I Love Pinterest” bandwagon! I follow you on there, too!
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38Hi Jenna! I would love an invite. Thanks so much!
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39I would love an invite! I am planning my daughter’s 1st birthday now and need somewhere to organize my thoughts!
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40I’d love an invite, too!
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41I actually downloaded the app for my iphone a while ago when someone suggested it but haven’t used it yet. I had no idea how much you could do with it, great post! I would love an invite too
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42I would love an invite! The Husband and I have just (literally just this week) decided to buy a house and started looking, so this will come in very handy!! I also think we’ve resisted the tide long enough and are going to upgrade to spartphones as well.
Your tips are great, can’t wait to see the recipes and other great stuff you’ve pinned!
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43Oh man! You’re not the only person who has talked about this site and it has made me SO interested. I’m buying a condo soon and this would be perfect for decorating ideas. I’d love an invite!
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Kristin Reply:
August 11th, 2011 at 10:40 pm
Thanks so much for the invite! Pinning stuff is super fun and I love just browsing.
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Definitely going to have a look at that, I have USB sticks full of things I’ve found on the internet, this would save so much time and computer memory!
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45Thanks for the introduction and tutorial - I could definitely make use of this and would love an invite!
Also just wanted to say that I read this blog every day and really enjoy it. You put a LOT of work into it and it’s very obvious from the stellar quality - it’s one of a few blogs that I make a point to read every day!
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Laura Reply:
August 11th, 2011 at 2:44 pm
Thanks for the invite - now to start looking around!
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I’ve tried to sign up for this in the past. Could you send me an invite, too? Thanks!!
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47I’m getting tired of bookmarking endless pages into my favorites and have been wanting to give Pinterest a try. Please send me an invite. Thanks!
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48Ahh pinterest. What an addiction!
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49Can I get an invite? I’ve poked around on there… and think it would be so helpful for keeping track of all the nursery pics I’ve been looking at. Our 1st baby is due around Christmas this year and I’m just starting to look at bedding, etc. Thanks!
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