"What is Pinterest? I've never heard of that before." I asked my friend. My friend mentioned that she found this new website that was totally different from anything she had ever used before. I was immediately intrigued. 5 minutes later, I set up an account. I couldn't tell you exactly when I created my account, but I think it was perhaps at the beginning of my senior year. After I created an account, I still asked, " What is Pinterest?" After a few weeks or so of forgetting about Pinterest, since I didn't really understand how to use it, I came back to it to explore more territory. After viewing other profiles that I had stumbled upon, I finally started to understand what the website was all about, it was a visual scrapbook of sorts. It seemed to me that Pinterest was your personal curation of ideas, images, and inspiration. 

So, more in depth about what Pinterest really is… What can you do on Pinterest? It turns out that there are a lot of things you can do on that nifty site. You can share pictures of your own, or share pictures that you might have found on another website, not belonging to you. Don't worry about plagiarism. Pinterest has created a special way of posting photos that you found on another website. All you have to do is click "Add +" in the top right hand corner, click "Add a Pin," and then just enter the URL where the image you want to post is. If there are multiple images on the website, Pinterest will let you click through each image until you find the one you're looking for. By doing this, if anyone that sees your pin is interested in finding out more about the image, they can simply click on the image and it will take the straight to the website where you got it from. Giving credit where credit is due. If you want to post an image that you've just seen on Pinterest that another user posted for you, all you have to do is click "Repin." Pinterest makes it really easy for their members to share. You can also add a caption to your original pin, or you can change the caption to a repin that you found from somebody else's pin. Not only can you repin, but you can also like people's pins! It's not what I prefer to do, because I would rather contribute that image to one of my many boards (which I will explain later), instead of just having it in an unorganized discord in my "Likes" tab. 

You may be wondering, why should I actually use Pinterest? Other than the ease of sharing, of course. Well, for me, I really enjoy using Pinterest because it's a place where I can organize images that inspire me. On Pinterest, most of my compiled images consist of hair, architecture, home decor, beauty, and fashion. Although all of these sound girly, and some are to an extent, there are also many other popular categories that Pinterest has chosen for you to browse. Some categories consist of animals, cars, art, food and travel. With so many images to compile and gain inspiration from, how is one to organize these images?

Boards. Pinterest is so wonderful for organization because they have done something that not many other blogging-type websites have done. Pinterest has created a feature on the site called "Boards." A board is a collection of pins that usually go along a guideline of a certain theme. You can have as many boards as you would like. I would definitely recommend having more boards than less boards! When you have a more defined theme for your boards, the more organized you can become. Let's say you have a board with the theme being "Cars." That's a great theme, but let's also say that you have a thousand images of cars that you've compiled. You want to go back and look at this special red car that you found, but with all of the images in one board, who knows how long it will take you to find that one image. So instead of having such a broad theme, like "Cars," you can have multiple boards focusing on one certain attribute that each car has, such as "Red Cars," "Black Cars," "Blue Cars." You could even go by maker or model if you'd like. The possibilities for customization when concerning boards are quite endless, and your imagination is the limit! 

So, now that you're learning more and more about Pinterest, it might still be a little confusing as to why this would be categorized as a social networking site. Well, on Pinterest, like on many other social networking websites, you can follow people, and have followers of your own. Also like most social networking sites, when you follow someone, you've gained a "subscription" to their pins. One of my favorite things about Pinterest is that it's socially acceptable to repin pin's from people that you don't know! This may seem weird, but sometimes it's just strange for you to retweet every single one of Kim Kardashian's tweets, for example. With Pinterest, it is definitely socially acceptable to follow and repin as many pins from anyone you would like. It's basically complimenting the person you repinned from, saying that they have great taste. Not only can you follow and repin, but you can also comment on any pin you'd like. The only negative about Pinterest is that there aren't many settings for privacy. I personally don't mind that tidbit, because on Pinterest you share things concerning what you like, but you aren't giving out really any personal information, unless, of course, you want to.

Not only has Pinterest created a friendly environment to be yourself, but it has also created a creative outlet for many people, including myself. I could also consider Pinterest to be a journal of sorts, and also a stress reliever. After a long day I find it very relaxing, if I have time, to take a few moments to browse over the lovely images that the people I follow have compiled for my personal enjoyment. Pinterest helps me to stay informed on what things are new and interesting in the world. I love to add images to my visual scrapbook that is ever-growing.

Some of my boards.

My timeline of pins by other users.

A look inside of one of my boards.

Sources:

https://pinterest.com/about/

http://gigaom.com/2012/01/04/you-are-what-you-curate-why-pinterest-is-hawt/

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/symbiartic/2012/03/16/the-promise-and-perils-of-pinterest/

All of the screen shots provided were made by me.