[ArticleImageHyperLink] Pinterest Wednesday, February 01, 2012 By Samantha Storms Advertising      If you are a girl, you have most likely heard of or used Pinterest in the past year. If you are a boy, you have most likely heard girls talk about Pinterest in the past year. And if you have no idea what Pinterest is, you should. Let me explain why.      I got a Pinterest account about three months ago, and I have been obsessed ever since. To obtain a Pinterest username and password, you first need to request an invitation to join. You can do this by simply going to Pinterest.com. Once your invitation has been accepted, you can use either an existing Facebook or Twitter login to start.      Great! You have a Pinterest account. Now what? At this point, you’re probably wondering what Pinterest actually is. Pinterest is essentially an online pin board. Users can upload their own pictures, pictures from existing Internet sites, magazine articles, etc. All of these pictures, or “pins,” are organized into categories. These categories include Hair and Beauty, Women’s Apparel, DIY Projects, Architecture, Art, History, Photography, Food and Drink, Humor, Fitness, etc. There are about thirty categories total. You can either browse some of these categories or view everything on one main homepage.      So what happens when you find a pin that you like? If you navigate away from the page, it will probably be lost forever. (This is the only drawback of Pinterest. It is constantly being updated with new pins, which makes it almost impossible to find any single pin twice.) Thankfully, there is a way to keep all of these pins at hand and organized. Each user’s “profile” consists of boards that they create. For example, I have a board completely dedicated to cool hairstyles that I find, entitled “I Whip My Hair Back and Forth.” Catchy, right? I also have boards dedicated to interesting craft ideas, outfits that I like, inspirational quotes, and even 1940s photography. When I find a pin I enjoy, I just click “repin,” choose what board I would like to pin it to, and voila! It is on that board for as long as I want it to be.      You can create as many boards and pin as many things as you would like. The neat thing about Pinterest is that all of the pins are totally accessible. Let’s say I wake up late for school (a common occurrence) and need to do something with my hair as quickly as possible. What to do? Oh, yeah! I remember that I repinned a really cute braided hairstyle on Pinterest last night. I can easily go to my board, click on the pin, and it will send me to a web page with step-by-step directions on how to do that hairstyle. So handy! And most importantly, no bedhead for this girl!      This system works just the same for craft ideas, recipes, etc. With the click of a button, you can get simple directions needed to complete just about any project. If you are looking for something in particular, such as chocolate chip cookies, you can type “chocolate chip cookies” into the search bar and hundreds of recipes will appear. I have used this trick countless times, and I have never been disappointed.      Now how do you connect with others on Pinterest? Easy. If you like something Jane Doe (fictional person for the sake of this example) pinned and want to see more, you can begin following her. Anything she pins will show up on your feed. You can also follow specific boards that you enjoy and those will appear on your feed, as well.      Crafts, hairstyles and recipes? This all sounds very girly, I’m sure. Though the majority of Pinterest users are female, some men use it as well. There are science, history, and fitness categories, among others, that many men would enjoy. Last week, I saw a man’s profile that had boards completely dedicated to antique cars and architecture. I honestly think people of all ages and genders could find something they enjoyed on Pinterest.      Pinterest has introduced me to crafts, recipes, and lifestyle tips that I would have never known existed before. My sisters, mom, and friends all use Pinterest on a daily basis and love it. I think it is definitely worth checking out if you haven’t already. The possibilities are truly endless.

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