Sunday, October 14, 2012

Penetrating Pinterest



Pinterest -- what is the fascination with this site? If you aren't on there you should check it out. I have decided that it's an age thing. It seems if you are in your 20's or 30's you are really into Pinteret. Older people - not quite as 'addicted' - if I can use that word.

I knew that several - well okay lots - of my Facebook friends were on Pinterest. Posts were made daily of things they had pinned. They looked to Pinterest for ideas on what to have for dinner. I wondered what is the big deal. I gotta admit, I also wondered how they had the time for Pinterest. I had a friend ask me if I was on Pinterest. He knew that I spent a lot of time on the computer at work and was surprised when I told him No, I wasn't on Pinterest. I decided I needed to check it out. So I logged on
and requested an invite. And that brings up the question - why do you have to have someone invite you to join this? Well, I didn't wait for one of my friends to send me an invite - I went straight to the site and requested my own invite. And it wasn't long before that invite came along.

Okay, I have my invite now to go see what all the fuss is about. I log in and start 'browsing'. I don't know any other way to put it. I looked up some friends whom I knew had Pinterest accounts and checked out some of their stuff and decided I liked some of the stuff they had. Then I had to set up my own boards.

Now this is where it can get confusing. How do I find things to "pin" to my boards? Well, there is a search box you can use.; this is in the upper left corner.  And it brings up items. Or you can type in a friends name and go check out their boards. Or you can click on the word Pinterest at the top of the screen and see what it brings up. You will see lots of 'pins' of the same thing. You can choose a category. Are you starting to get the idea?

Now here is the thing. I don't get on Pinterest very often. Like I said it seems like my younger Facebook friends do. I might get on there every 3-4 weeks. Not a big deal. However, when I do get on there, I really tend to 'pin' a lot of stuff. I find places that look like they would be interesting to visit. I see fun stuff to do with the grandkids. I see things that just look totally awesome: a pool on a balcony - all glass walls, a two-person rocker. I find food that looks yummy and some that looks absolutely appalling. The point is, there is everything on there. You can plan your wedding, plan your vacation, plan your dream house. You can look up holiday specific items, specific ingredients to see what recipes you can make. Get the idea? You can find just about anything on Pinterest. And when I do get on - I pin a lot of stuff. I have talked to some older friends who are on Pinterest. They say the same thing: they don't get on very often but when they do they pin a lot.

Just the other day, a co-worker was wanting a recipe that someone she knew had pinned on Pinterest. She saw the post on Facebook. I obligingly went to try and find the recipe for her. I was successful with that and so much more. I pinned lots of stuff to my boards. Then I found a recipe that I just had to try. Crock Pot Pumpkin Spice Latte. I was excited about this except for the fact that it served 8. I didn't want to have friends over to drink this because I didn't know if it was as good as I was hoping. I couldn't drink that much Latte myself (or anyway I shouldn't if I could). What was I to do?

Then it occurred to me - DUH - scale the recipe down and make only half or even a fourth. So I did. I pulled out my little crock pot and cut that recipe in fourths and made it. Let me tell you - it was good stuff.

So no matter your age, if you haven't gotten on Pinterest - give it a try.

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