Going ga ga over Pinterest – How to use Pinterest

In the last few years that I have been following decor/DIY  blogs I have heard many bloggers rave about Pinterest, an online community for sharing inspiration. Given my inertia to try something new, I paid little attention to all this blogger talk. I was convinced that it was merely the ‘next big thing’ hype. Once I started my own blog, my inquisitive instincts got the better of me and I decided to poke around Pinterest to at least understand what it was. And boy was I in for a surprise!

So how do you use Pinterest? You can use your FB/twitter account to login or create a separate user account. Once you set your account up you can create boards. ‘Boards’ in Pinterest language is the same as boards in real life. You can create as many boards as you like depending upon your interests.  Before you start pinning you need to drag and drop the ‘Pin it’ button from the ‘how to get started section’ on Pinterest onto your browser bookmark bar. Once you have the “Pin it’ button on your browser task bar you are all set.

Let’s say, you have a board called ‘living rooms’. Here you can pin all your inspiration files, basically any picture that you come across the web that relates to living rooms. You can upload your own photos too. You could have board for your favorite recipes, art, DIY projects, places to visit, inspirational quotes…the possibilities are endless. As soon as I got the hang of it I was hooked.  So far I have 8 boards. Here is a snap shot of my boards.

Click on the image for a better view

An interesting feature is that you can follow anyone with similar tastes as you. Most of the bloggers use Pinterest. So if you have favorite blog then look them up on Pinterest. You have the option to either follow all of their boards or pick the ones that you like. It works the other way around too. Anyone who finds you interesting can follow your boards too. Ok, you’ve pinned some pics; now what? Take a look around at others’ pins. There is inspiration galore. You can go to the main Pinterest page and choose the category that you would like to see and can browse through the recent pins in that category. It is so much fun to see what other like minded folks have done or are inspired by. As they say, a picture is worth a 1000 words. If you spot a pin that you like you can repin it to one of your boards.

Click on the image for a better view

After seeing all the cool things that people have done/ plan to do my ‘To do List’ board is growing like crazy. I am so looking forward to turning all this ‘Pinspiration’ to action!

So hop over to Pinterest and let me know what you think.  And if you get hooked, Happy Pinning!

PS: If you would like to follow me or one of my boards, just click the    link on the right. If you do not have an Facebook account please shoot me an email at [email protected]. I can send you an invite.