Pinterest

So, it's been a few months now that I have been hanging out around Pinterest. I was slow to adopt. Everyone that was telling me about it was finding themselves 'addicted' and spending hours on the site, so I was a little nervous. I don't have any free time as it is. If you aren't familiar, think of Pinterest as a visual bookmark list of things that you like (or would like to try).

I've been using it now for a few weeks and I find that there are a few ways in which I use Pinterest.

I check out what others are pinning and if I see something I like, I repin it to my boards. I have found a number of recipes and crafts that my friends have shared that I can't wait to try. I love that I can organize them so easily. This is probably where I spend the majority of my Pinterest time.

The second way that I use it is by searching on Pinterest for specific things - like a recipe or a craft. This allows you to explore beyond your circle for things that others have found interesting. The visual aspect is a great way to explore. Sometimes, it can be a "pain" to click from the search, to the board, to the pin, to the source.

It really was when I started to see the PinIt buttons added to some of the blogs that I read that I really started to pay attention. Suddenly, I had an easy way to capture those recipes/crafts/etc that I wanted to come back and make/do/etc. Plus, since it was saved with a picture, I had an easy visual clue about what the bookmark was. This clearly was a better option than my prior approach of simply book-marking every page (unsorted of course!) and winding up with a list of website addresses that I had to attempt to decipher as I looked for a specific post that I wanted to go back to.

Of course, not every website had the PinIt button, so I went on a quest to find out how to add the PinIt button to my toolbar. I headed over to Pinterest and found the directions (under About, Pin It Button, 1st item). It was super easy (open up your bookmark toolbar and drag the button from the site to your toolbar - can you get any easier?) and now I can bookmark any post or article that I want, whether that page uses the PinIt button or not.

While there, I also saw the directions on how to add the PinIt button to the posts on my blog. I put it at the bottom of each post - do you think I should move it to the top? Unfortunately, I couldn't get it to work following the directions on PinIt. I was able to get the button added to my posts, but when I went to test the button, I would get a 'blank' image. I'm not sure what was wrong, but think it could be related to the 'old' Blogger template that was the basis for my blog. Not being a programmer, I had no idea how to solve the problem.

But, I did find this website that offered simple directions on adding the PinIt button and the code needed. I'm currently using her file for the button, but may try to customize my own and then I will just have to change the location for the file.

I love Pinterest so far. How about you? Do you use Pinterest? What do you like about it? How do you use it?

This post shared at Works for Me Wednesday.