Pinterest : Could you define that please?

It’s that usual time between two and four pm. Since my mind can’t encompass any more critical thoughts about poetry and William Wordsworth, and my eyes feel heavy under the stress of reading line after line, my anxious fingers take over. Before I know it, I’m mindlessly surfing Pinterest.com. This is a site that is still new enough to possibly garner quizzical looks, but is rapidly growing in the world of social media as a new way for visual consumers to create their own self-checklist via the internet.

For those of you still stuck in that quizzical expression, here’s how it works. Pinterest’s mission statement is to “connect everyone in the world through the things they find interesting.” Users simply create an account and “pin” images they find on the web or from other “pinners.” You can then put these “pinned” images into categories for your friends/followers to view on their home page feed. The general goal is a virtual bulletin board where moments of divine inspiration can be stored for all eternity (or at least until you delete your account or the company goes under).

Most males that you ask, if they even know what Pinterest is, will tell you that the site is simply an outlet for women’s fantasies. These could include their future weddings (pinning pictures of wedding dresses, cakes, and rings for when they need to be “reminded” of what they liked in the future), plans for their dream home (pictures of couches, crafts, and paint colors), or fashion tips (pictures of celebrities’ ensembles and hairstyles). Personally, while I find myself pinning the occasional bookshelf or ideal music room for DIY inspiration, I still haven’t been able to rationalize starting the scrapbook of my wedding.

But don’t be too quick to judge the site with all this talk of dream weddings and women drooling over pinned pictures of Ryan Gosling. According to Wikipedia, Pinterest launched in March of 2010, and as of January 2012, 11.7 million users are on the site. This outlet for social image sharing has quickly become the fastest site in history to break through the 10 million user mark, according to comScore. So while you may be thinking about how you don’t need another social media site to check up on and add to your dashboard (trust me, I thought the same thing), if you’re one of those people who enjoy jumping on the bandwagon, now would be the time. Maybe you will actually find some inspiration within those lazy, brief hours of free time. Wouldn’t we all like to think that our fashion sense, workout plan, and cooking could all improve with just a simple “pin?”

-Bri