Middleagemum.com: help me, I’m addicted to Pinterest!

Nice images I have found include meandalice.blogspot.com (left) and eimekucom (right)

It was bad enough when we just did the blog and Twitter on TWR, I found myself online more than off. Then Instagram came along and that nice @indiaknight told us we should be on it and now I almost prefer it to Twitter, it’s so uplifting looking at everyone’s photos. And then I started on Pinterest and things went haywire. Now I ‘pin’ images to my boards day and night, anxiously scanning other people’s pins to make sure I haven’t missed the world’s most beautiful picture. I’ve given up on real life, instead it’s me, my laptop and lots and lots of inspiring pictures.

For those of you not aware of Pinterest, Jane wrote about it way back here and she has been using it as part of the day job to create fabulous boards. I’ve only been doing it for the last month but it is so easy to use and so enjoyable that within a day or two you are both a) quite good at it and b) addicted. It’s that clever little PIN button that you  drag to the bookmark bar that makes it all so simple, you find a fabulous picture on line, click the PIN button and it saves the image on one of your boards, placing it prettily alongside the other 4000 images you’ve pinned that day. 

Soon your boards (you can have as many as you want I think) will grab the attention of someone else, and you will find other people following, liking and repinning your images, which makes you think perhaps you’re doing something right and are really very clever to have found that picture in the first place. This spurs you on to find better pictures that no one else has found, which get snapped up by others and SO THE SPIRAL GOES ON! It’s not long before supper goes unmade, deadlines woosh past unmet and PJs look like acceptable daywear at 3.00pm. 

And what exactly is the point of having all these pictures on boards you ask? Well that is a good question. Some I will use as part of the day job and very useful it will be too, as it allows me to keep the original source of the image or the article it was attached to. This makes it really useful for anyone who researches on line, and eldest and youngest teen both use it for their school research.

And it’s great if you have a wedding/gardening/cooking project going on as EVERYONE has images on these subjects you can grab for inspiration, how anyone managed to decorate before Pinterest I can’t imagine. It’s fabulous for clothes because once you’ve pinned a few inspiring outfits, women looking good with grey hair or gorgeous vintage pictures tailored exactly to what you love, you can dip in for a quick burst of creative thinking when outfit planning. When you are busy scanning the Pinterest home board, you’ll also come across lots of fabulous new blogs and websites you didn’t know about and spend hours reading these too. 

It sounds harmless enough doesn’t it? Recently Jane was Tweeting that she couldn’t wait for magazines to get their act together and produce a beautiful online format that was both inspiring and easy to shop from. I thought maybe magazines could turn to Pinterest and then have a click through to buy, when @SamatRedMag tweeted back that Red was indeed already on Pinterest, with 54 beautiful boards to scan and re-pin (that was my afternoon gone). My worry it that Pinterest might figure out a way of selling us the stuff on these lovely images, going by my current behaviour, I’ll be bankrupt before lunchtime. Help!

more lovely images from Pinterest include robinkaplandesign.com (left) and fashionl.st (right)

 Jane and Amanda are on Pinterest. Take a look, but be warned, you might lose your life as you know it.

 

15 Comments

  • ruth says:

    I don’t tweet or facebook, but addicted to Pinterest! It is amazing how an hour can whizz by without notice…….

  • Therese says:

    So funny to read this because I am new to pinterest and have been seriously addicted for a few weeks now!!!! it is great for my work and I just love it as an activity…its easy, fun and visually rewarding x

  • Amanda says:

    Do you think we’ll get tired of it eventually? Is it a passing phase? will life return to normal soon? Ax

  • I love pinterest but have had a struggle to get an invite. Not sure why?! The pics are fab; I miss putting mood boards together, I could soo get into this. GG

  • Amanda says:

    GG why is that I wonder? Any other readers had similar probs? Jane and I are setting up a proper TWR one soon too, so we’ll let you know if we struggle……Ax

  • Pippa NOM de PLUME says:

    My daughter had to wait about 3 weeks before her invite came, in the end she applied so many times, we wondered if they hadn’t received the initial request or whether they just got sick of her asking!

  • Ahh, good tactic Pippa. Perhaps I should try a daily application until they ‘cave’. GG

  • Anna says:

    My name is Anna and I am an addict. I am also newish to Pinterest and have also lost hours and hours to it. To my shame I have found myself reading Swedish blogs, just because their pictures are often so gorgeous (I cannot read a word of actual Swedish!!). The thrill when you get lots of repins! Amanda I will go on and follow you immediately.

  • Amanda says:

    Anna, it’s OK, we love ALL THINGS Scandinavian, so don’t think of it as time wasted, more time ‘learning’….well it works for me. A

  • Miss Maudie says:

    Love your blog – logging into it is one of the first things I do each morning. Tried several times for an invite to become a member of Pinterest so I too can waste hours each and every day but have had no success. Am I right in thinking that members can send out invitations – if so would you be able to send one to me? I’m crossing my fingers and toes too xx

  • Amanda says:

    Miss Maudie, no invitation required, you just ask to join via emailing them, Jane has just asked for and got a TWR one this week, so I think you just have to look at what Pippa said and keep pestering/expect a 3 week delay, or tho I don’t know what this would be. Is anyone from Pinterest reading this? can you help explain why this is? Ax

  • Did you know that if someone chooses to sue over reproducing a photo without permission not only are you personally liable but also have to pay all pininterest’s legal fees as well? I had been on pininterest, which I was loving, for only a week when I saw a story about a lawyer who’s also a photographer who looked at the fine print and then instantly deleted all her boards. Doesn’t matter if the original source is credited, either, as it’s still a technical breach of copyright. Now, I don’t know what to do! Here’s a link to the story http://articles.businessinsider.com/2012-02-28/tech/31106641_1_repinning-copyright-entire-image

  • Suzanne says:

    I love pinterest, it’s like the whole world looking at a glossy magazine together.

  • Catherine says:

    It’s crazy I signed up, forgot to pin anything, and now all these people are following WHAT? I still have to give it some time.

    And what’s wrong with PJs at 3pm?

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