Organize w Cyber Bulletinboard Pinterest

Pin Items from the Web to Collect Virtually

Pinterest, an organizational online bulletin board, says its mission is to "connect everyone in the world through the 'things' they find interesting. We think that a favorite book, toy, or recipe can reveal a common link between two people. With millions of new pins added every week, Pinterest is connecting people all over the world based on shared tastes and interests."

How Pinterest Works

Pinterest lets you organize and share what you find on the web by adding the "pin it" function to your browser toolbar to copy the html from the site and add and credit it on your own private virtual bulletin board categorized by interest.

People use pinboards/homepages to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes. You can also browse pinboards created by other people to get inspiration from those who share your interests.

Pinterests Categories

The site's categories include books, humor, men's and woman's fashion, weddings, architecture, science, and travel. Posts are called pins and the more these are re-pined, the more frequently it will appear on others' homepages.

This process will also ask you to select all the categories you would like to follow and items from these will then appear on your home page. You can also go to particular categories directly, however, when you want to re-pin a post, you are asked to select a category to which to assign it, but if you don't the site will default to whatever category you last posted in (ffrom time to time you will get wedding dresses in the humor section).

Joining Pinterest

You need to be invited to the site, either by requesting an invite on the site or being invited by a friend who is already a member. It doesn't take long to sign up and when you do the site will link to your Twitter and Facebook pages to find friends already on Pinterest. Although it is international most pins come up in English and are very North American in terms of reference.

Pinterest Entrepreneurs

Pinterest is funded by a group of young Palo Alto California entrepreneurs and investors including: Jack Abraham (Milo), Michael Birch (Bebo), Scott Belsky (Behance), Shana Fisher (Highline Venture Partners), Ron Conway (SV Angel), Kevin Hartz (EventBrite), Jeremy Stoppelman (Yelp), Hank Vigil, Fritz Lanman, and Brian S. Cohen.

Pinterest Endorsements

• "Perusing other folks' boards, featuring everything from picturesque travel scenes to oddly beautiful bacteria, is as enjoyable as building your own." Time
• "It hadn't occurred to me that such an online service also would be a window into me for my husband who sees me every day." Wall Street Journal
• "Expressing passion for a hobby is just as easy as browsing for your next purchase. But what's even more addictive about the site - a collection of collections - is that it's just as much about the users as it is what they've posted." Mashable
• "User experience, a clean retro visual design, content curation, social collaboration and subscription: those are the things that Pinterest is leveraging to gain a lot of traction and buzz." ReadWriteWeb