A Few More Thoughts on Pinterest

Our recent post about the Pinterest website raised some definite interest among our readersas well as some great questions. For today's Education Monday post, we're going to dive a little deeper into figuring out what Pinterest is. Please be sure to let us know your questions in the comments below!

What is Pinterest?

Pinterest is a website that gives you an online scrapbook that helps you organize and save ideas for later. Whenever you find something on the web that you want to keep, you can add it to Pinterest by linking a pin; then you can always go back and look at that site again later.

What is a pin?

Pinterest uses bookmarks called pins. Pins use images to remind you what you've been looking at. Here is an example:

The above pin is for a film, Lee Daniels' The Butler. If I saw this pin on a friend's board, I might think, "I want to see that film." So I click on the "pin it" button in the upper left corner, and I pin it to my Film and TV board.

What is a board?

My family has a corkboard in the kitchen where we leave notes for each other. Sometimes we will pin coupons or pictures to the board so we don't forget them. This is the essential idea of Pinterest: it is like a huge, virtual cork board inside your computer where you can save things for later, so you don't forget them.

When using Pinterest, you collect your pins on screens called boards. Think about them as categories for filing your bookmarks. I have boards relating to interesting history, movies I want to see, recipes, and places I want to travel. For example, if I'm planning a return trip to London and I find a site I would like to visit, I can save the image of that site by pinning it to my Travel board.

You can have lots of boards, so you can keep track of any number of things. Do you collect sports memorabilia? You could use a Pinterest board to keep track of the items you have, as well as the items you want. Pinterest has a number of categories that you can search for pins, or use as the basis for creating your own boards. Here are the many categories you can search:

What does it mean to follow?

Thousands of people use Pinterest. You can follow other people's boardsyou'll be able to see their latest pins on your homepageand see what is popular and trending. You can follow your friends and family members, as well as people you may not know but who have similar interests to your own.

When you first log in to your Pinterest account, you will see all the newest pins from the people you are following. You will also receive notifications from people who are following you.

How much does it cost? Do I need to subscribe?

Pinterest is a free online web application; no subscription is necessary. You can sign up for an account using your email address, or you can connect your Pinterest account to your Facebook and/or Twitter accounts. If you are interested in signing up for an account, you can do so here. There is a free app available on both iOS and Android so that you can browse and pin on your tablet or smartphone if you like. If you have more questions about Pinterest, be sure to ask us below. You can also get a lot of help from the Pinterest help database. Happy pinning!