Sample Screen from Pinterest.com
By Jamie Lim
Reporter
Many students around the country have found increasing amounts of their spare time being spent on Pinterest, a website dedicated to creating virtual pin boards, and Baylor students are no exception.
“I probably look at it at least once a day, for like a study break or when I’m bored,” Plano sophomore Mollie Kirk said.
Want new, delicious recipes? There’s a board for that. Looking for new workout regimens? There’s a board for that. Want to try out some new hairstyles? Yes, there’s a board for that too.
“I have a clothes and accessories board, one beautify board for hair and makeup, a future home board, a wedding board, a puppy board, a travel board, a food board, a craft board and a bucket list board,” Kirk said.
According to Time Magazine, Pinterest was deemed one of the 50 best websites in 2011, but some think it is some type of fad that will soon cease to exist. Many users, however, think the Pinterest has a degree of staying power.
“Even though I don’t use it as much as I started, I can see myself going back and still using the website because it’s entertaining and it will give me inspiration for new recipes, clothes and crafts,” Kirk said.
Pinterest allows its users to categorize, create and share virtual pin boards. Categories range from science and nature to travel and places, from cars and motorcycles to hair and beauty.
“I think it’s useful because it helps you organize all the things you have wanted into one place,” Pearland sophomore Stephanie Collelo said. “Instead of finding a recipe here and there and bookmarking all the sites, you can have it all completely organized in one site.“
According to web traffic analyst Alexa, The website may be dominated by women, but that doesn’t mean men shouldn’t start pinning. One male user, Houston freshman Collin Martin, said many categories appeal to men. These include humor, sports, technology, outdoors and much more.
“I guess it is pretty dominated by girls right now, and if there were more guys I would have to sift through less stuff about crafting and weddings,” Martin said.
The virtual boards help users organize things they’ve found on the Internet. These things are called pins, images that are placed on users’ boards.
Users can either upload pins from their computers or from websites. When uploaded from a website, the link from that website will also be attached to the pin. In addition, pins can be re-pinned by other users.
“I mainly use Pinterest to get other ideas so I don’t personally pin stuff, I just re-pin other people’s pins,” Collelo said.
However, Pinterest is more than just virtual pin boards. According to Pinterest’s website, its mission is to connect its users. They believe they are able to link users together that share similar interests.
A way that the Pinterest team is fulfilling its mission is by allowing their users to follow one another. They can either follow all of a user’s boards or just individual boards.
There are a couple of ways to follow users. One is by following friends through Facebook or Twitter that have Pinterest accounts. Another way is by stumbling upon users that have similar tastes.
“I don’t really look at my regular feed of people that pin stuff, because most of the stuff that people pin are really girly,” Martin said. “But I can look at the humor stuff and other categories that interest me personally.”
Currently, Pinterest is not open to the public, but that does not mean it is difficult to join.
In order to join, people must be invited to become a member. Potential users can either request an invite on Pinterest’s homepage or be invited through Facebook or Twitter from a friend who is already a member.
With Pinterest’s numbers continuing to grow at Baylor as well as around the country, the number of pins available to sift through is expected to keep growing in the foreseeable future, given the website’s current traffic growth charts.
