Quick and Dirty Social Media for Writers: Pinterest

It’s Social Media Monday again. Funny how that happens every 7 days.

Today I share the fairly newish site, Pinterest. Here, you can pin images that capture your interest.

What is Pinterest? How Does it Work?

Basically, it is a virtual bulletin board. But it is also a social media site. Essentially, you find pictures you like on the internet and you ‘pin’ them to your own little bulletin board within the Pinterest site. Within your ‘site’ or ‘main board’ you can organize your pins into categories or sub-boards.

As for the ‘social’ aspect, on Pinterest you can follow other users and comment on images. You can also ‘repin’ other’s images so they appear on your board. You can also ‘like’ images. (You can ‘like’ images you thought were cool so they appear in a list. You can pin images and/or like them. Your likes and pins are kept separate.)

What Do You Use it For?

Pinterest can be used for fun images you find online like jokes or silly photos, for collecting hairstyle ideas, party/wedding ideas, crafts, redecorating ideas, beautiful photos, or for us writer types… hunks. Er. I mean, we can create boards to collect the visuals for our manuscripts. Some of us writers are visual types and like to keep photos on hand of people that look like our characters, buildings that are featured in our stories, or other images that inspire and help us create. With Pinterest we can do it all in one place and access it from anywhere. Ain’t the internet grand?

My repinned bunny over on Pinterest.
I have to admit, he is pretty darn cute.

Personally, I’ve been using Pinterest for my It’s All Kid’s Play project. And interestingly enough… when I joined Pinterest I had discovered that some of my crafts from the It’s All Kid’s Play blog were already being repinned around the site! Ever cool! (Yes, I feel pretty special.)

How Do You Join?

You can contact Pinterest for an invitation to join or have another member send you an invitation (if you want, you can drop me a line in the comment section and I’ll ‘refer’ you). You can also cruise around the Pinterest site without joining.

Already a Member?

Drop your Pinterest URL in the comment section and I’ll follow you. I’m always curious to see what others find interesting. And, of course, you can follow me too! I’m here: http://pinterest.com/jeanoram/

Enjoy!

Do you use Pinterest or something similar? What do you use it for?