My Addiction

People who have only heard about Pinterest ask “What is it?”  Even some who have seen it, even some who have used it ask, “What is it?” or “I don’t get it!”  

Those unfamiliar with Pinterest are mostly men--according to a February 2012 article on PCmag.com, 97% of Pinterest users are women.

What is Pinterest?  According to the Pinterest website, it is “A virtual pinboard’ that “lets you organize and share all of the beautiful things you find on the web.”

Wikipedia calls Pinterest “a pinboard-style social photo sharing website that allows users to create and manage theme-based image collections such as events, interests, hobbies, and more.”

I consider Pinterest “an addiction.”   I find myself visiting Pinterest several times a day, looking for fun things to pin, a wonderful new salmon recipe that I’m going to serve my lucky husband for dinner,  instructions for homemade bath salts in cute little jars that I’m going to put together for Mother’s Day gifts, and adorable pillows  I am going to make from placemats to decorate my home with.  

Most of these craft projects have yet to be tried, and my hungry husband is still waiting for his salmon.  But that’s okay because I also enjoy following my friends, seeing what they find interesting and worthy of pinning.  And most lately my competitive side has been rearing its little head, and I’m pinning mostly in hopes of getting more followers.  I like seeing in my inbox that someone has pinned one of my pins, but I love seeing that someone new is following me!

At this moment, I have 46 boards and 515 pins.  While I am following just 36 users or boards, I have 57 users following one or more of my boards--three more  the than the number of friends I have on Facebook!  Why do I feel proud of that number when it’s light years away from Jane Wang who is rapidly approaching 5 million followers or even Ellen DeGeneres’ 96,000 followers?  

When someone clicks “Follow”--or better yet--”Follow All” they are saying that person has something worthwhile to share, I like how that person thinks, s/he has good taste, or I like that person and I want to keep up on what they are pinning.  And I think 57 is a pretty good start on my way to millions.  Hundreds?

And besides, Jane Wang’s son is a Pinterest co-founder; she had a head start over everyone else!