Our beauty blogger, Catherine McCurry, looks at ‘Pinterest’…
AFTER recently discovering the personalised media website Pinterest, I am amazed at the array of collections, categories, and ideas showcased on this site.
I am always open to trying out new – to me – and innovative websites and this is one is perfect if you enjoy finding inspiration through other people’s lives, their hobbies, interests or even how their homes are decorated.
The website covers everything from what you do, think about, plan and see in your daily life and it is all categorised in to sections from recipes, including healthy meal ideas, animals, art, gardening, kids clothing, men’s fashion, home decor, literature, fashion tips to science and nature.
It covers travel ideas and you can view other people’s photographs and where they have been and find inspiration for your next big adventure.
The site is basically a visual discovery tool that people use to collect ideas for different projects, blogs, cookery ideas and interests.
Every user can create and share their own boards of visual bookmarks and these are called Pins. Think of it has a huge notice board where you can pin different interests with photographs and piece of information.
It can be used to plan trips, organise events and share your favourite things.
Launched three years ago, the site’s founders approached a New York magazine publishing company in an attempt to sell the idea, however after the publishers failed to meet with them, it was launched as an iPhone app early in March 2011 and garnered a lot more interest than they projected.
Just five months later, Time magazine named Pinterest in their top 50 best websites for that year.
Some of the most popular and visited categories are food, home, arts and fashion.
It’s brilliant for picking up tips for outfits and beauty products and each Pin will link back to the site where it came from making it very quick and easy to buy what you spotted.
The site allows users to save different images you have spotted and categorise them on different boards you have created.
When you are register through your Facebook account or email it makes it easier to find all your friends and view the items they have Pinned.
Users are able to follow other users’ boards if they have similar tastes and interests.
You might have noticed in some retail stores clothes that are labelled ‘the most pinned item’, which suggests that it has been popular among users.
It’s a great tool if you enjoy browsing online for ideas and inspirations.
