Pinterest seems to have taken the Internet by storm with their highly addictive, digital pinning of anything and everything. While many of us are certainly addicted to its lovely interface, I view the shift as a complement instead of a replacement to traditional pinning on inspiration walls.
My biggest issues with Pinterest (and why it won't be replacing my walls tacked full of new and old magazine clippings):
1. Too many repeated images. In an Internet age where new and cool rules everything, it doesn't help seeing the same photos posted over and over and comments such as "Awesome!!!" and "I want this!!!" don't add much to the experience for me. There are times when being less social might be a good thing.
2. No touch means out of touch. Pinning hundreds of home decor photos on my 'Dream Home' board might be nice and all, but good luck adding a sample swatch of a favorite fabric or leather to it. I think that to get the feeling 'right' at home sticking with a traditional mood board is a must for the tactile aspect.
3. You can't always buy what you see. While blogging and Tumblr-ing may have proliferated over the past few years, Pinterest is like unfiltered social blogging on overdrive. It can be difficult to find where exactly the image came from, let alone specific items within an image and/or pricing.
4. It's a 'blackhole timesuck'. Whereas with physical boards you have to control the amount of things you collect before things get unwieldy, the unlimited nature of a digital repository will likely cause the obsessive image hoarding.
Will Pinterest be replacing your inspiration wall? Why or why not?
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My inspiration board next to my desk will always stay. I like the constant visual reminder to stay focused on my mission and style.
I view Pinterest less as an online inspiration wall/mood board and more as a visual bookmarking service. I totally agree with 1 and 3... those are my biggest frustrations with Pinterest.
Overall, I think Pinterest can start as an inspiration board for particular rooms you like, such as a kitchen. Anytime you see a picture you love of a kitchen, you pin it. Then you can go back through and pick out the common themes... do you love the white furniture and dark cabinets? Do you love hardwood floors or are you more of a tile person? Then you can start pulling for a real mood board that will be focused with the designs you love.
I like the idea in theory, but find it a bit annoying as it is driven by social media. If it could be completely private, I would be in. Also, I was not thrilled that to sign up I would be forced to accept the Facebook timeline. I'm just too old, perhaps.
I had to take a pinterest break a few months ago. All it did was fuel a desire to consume and buy stuff. I had pinned a few cute items, and when I saw them in a shop, I felt compelled to buy them, even though I didn't have the cash on hand. I don't need more "stuff" in my home just because I think it's cute.
Now I use it more for planning trips, fashion ideas, and as a visual bookshelf of books I'd like to read. I had to really let go of the home decor and crafty elements of pinterest.
I love Pinterest! I took time to put up boards that I was truly interested in. When I first signed up I did not realize t I followed anyone. Now before I follow, I go tot their profile and only pick the boards that how it worked. Now I go to the persons page and only follow the ones that are my interests so that I only see what I am truly passionate about. I love that I can go to my boards to find something I had saved. I do not usually have trouble finding the original site even though sometimes you have to go back to several pins to find the website or blog.
I look for design ideas rather than product ideas and copy pix of interest (not many) to my laptop inspiration files, where I find it easier to keep everything in one place. That way I don't have a Pinerest 'account' and it's easier to keep the monster from consuming my life. As others have noted, "consume" seems to be the operant word and something I'm trying to do less. So really, I use it more for ideas on how to use or repurpose or restyle what I have or might find when I'm thrifting--like paging through a shelter magazine in print or online.
Sorry, I sent before I saw the typos. I meant to say that I did not realize how it worked if you followed a person, you saw all their boards.
Might I suggest to everyone, SpringPad (springpadit.com). It is a bookmarking service that you can share or keep totally private. It links whatever you save to the web address from where you saved it, so none of the lost links. It has practical applications far beyond just inspiration boards as you can make lists and categorize things (restaurants I want to try, furniture for the living room, shopping lists, etc) and take notes about those things as well. It is available as a mobile app so you always have it with you....etc, etc, etc.
It's cool, I like it. And you don't have to use your facebook login to sign up, which is what has kept me off pinterest (It just annoys me that they think I care to have facebook control my online life, I don't.)
thanks, Barterfly... I will check that out!
I like pinterest, but as misterklein said I use it more for visual bookmarking than inspiration. It makes certain things much easier.
My dislike of pinterest is the people who repeatedly comment with "how do I find that dress?" "what's the recipe?" "how much does it cost?", JUST CLICK THE PICTURE! I acknowledge that there is a learning curve with anything new, but c'mon it's the Internet, you click, you type, it's not that hard.
I also can't stand all the Facebook posts about Pinterest filling my newsfeed, either people talking about how they don't get it, but still "use" it or showing everything they repinned in the last two hours.
I won't use Pinterest due to privacy issues.
I love pinterest. I do not like that it is linked to my facebook. I want to delete my facebook but cannot because of pinterest. But I do have it set up so nothing feeds information to my news feeds or anything gets posted on my wall because that would be straight up annoying for people. I also do not like that you cannot have a private board that people can't see. A lot of people follow me that I know but don't really keep in contact with (of course finding my account through facebook) and they pin a lot of my stuff. which is all fine and dandy but sometimes I want to be original or I have a present in mind for someone, or I just straight up don't want anyone to know that I want to dye my hair pastel purple (which i just did because of pinterest). I use pinterest because like someone said above if I ever decide to redo my bedroom or kitchen I can look at those pictures and get a common theme from them. I am also addicted to fashion/makeup/hair so I get a lot of new information from pinterest. I don't just pin the picture I go to the site and check out what's on it. I find some new blogs along the way and really learn quite a bit. I feel like people aren't using it the same way as when I first became a member almost a year ago. But whatever, it's just like facebook and twitter and google+ and whatever other social media platform is out there, it'll come and go. I just noticed a site called stylesays.com or something and it is completely similar in format to pinterest but is for clothing and has all the prices and whatnot. I liked it but just thought it was really too similar to pinterest and all it did was take you a site like free people or nordstroms, there wasn't a lot of unknown clothing stores or things I couldn't see by just going to those websites. anyway this has gone on forever. Overall, I love pinterest and I'm going to continue to use it. It would be nice if they changed some of their privacy settings but I think it will come with time because a lot of people have mentioned that to pinterest.
I have a huge problem with physical clutter already. Putting up an inspiration corkboard and filling it with fabric swatches and pics from magazines and catalogs would mean acquiring magazines and catalogs, which would bring more clutter into my home. Pinterest works just fine for me, especially since I can remind myself of what I like about a particular pic (how the vanity is arranged, the colors, the wallpaper, etc.).
Also, lolcats and memes. Having a portable file of things that are guaranteed to crack me up is not a bad thing.
Just wanted to throw out there that you can have a Pinterest account without using your Facebook login. Also, if you do use your Facebook login there are settings that allow you to not have Pinterest post on your Facebook.
I use Pinterest as a bookmarking service and rarely look at what others are pinning as they are quite repetitious. I have enjoyed the design blogs that I follow that have begun Pinterest boards, as following their boards can be a quick way to stay up to date on their new blog posts without going to the individual sites.
I agree with Girl Jen on the physical clutter part. I like that everything I pin is neatly tucked away on my computer all in one place.
The one thing that annoys me most is seeing what everyone is pinning on Facebook. I don't care what you're pinning, if I did I would follow you. No one needs to know that you just pinned 58 photos to "wish i could do this with my hair".
i love pinterest. as mentioned by some of the other commenters, i use it more as a visual bookmarking rather than an inspiration/mood board, especially for crafty things and recipes.
i've been on a recent de-clutter and home purge, so in a way, pinning the home styles that i really like is helping me with that. i look at my current space and think "i want it to look more like these photos" and then i throw a bunch of things in a trash or donate bin. easy peasy.
I see a lot of comments in relationship with Facebook. You do not have to post on Facebook. There is a setting to remove that option.
I didn't think I would like Pinterest at all, but I have found I was able to connect more with other people who do the same type of work that I do, unlike Facebook, which is overblown, changes too much, and is bloated.
I see Pinterest as an amazing tool for professionals... if they're visually driven. I sell travel. Seeing a collection of grand canyon, river rafting, and sunset photos would tell me so much more than, "I like to go camping." I wish all my clients would use pinterest!
I'm not a fan of pinterest. Perhaps it's because of who I auto-followed based on my facebook friends and I need to put more effort into finding better people to follow. To me it's seems to be full of trends I wish had gone away months (or years ago). I don't like the Facebook integration and there seems to be a lack of proper sources. I also think it generally drives unnecessary consumerism and materialism. For people looking for alternatives, I use Evernote to save things online and have been happy with it.
I have been using weheartit.com (We Heart It) for a couple of years. I have no idea how it's different from Pinterest, but I find that it's easy to use and I feel like I should be loyal and not jump on the bandwagon of a new trendy website. With that said, I don't see why you can't try to have balance between the two, cyber bookmarking and tactile inspiration boards.
I might try it. I've always been loath to cut things up.
This post assumes that people had a physical inspiration board before pinterest. Speaking as someone who is not a design professional, or in any creative or creative-adjacent profession, I didn't. I think one explanation for pinterest's success is exactly that it offers a version of the inspiration board experience to people who didn't/wouldn't have a physical board.
I too have been put off by the social element. I appreciate Pinterest as an organization tool and I like that I can bookmark images that are linked back to their source without cluttering my computer, but I don't really care to make my interests public. Maybe that sounds Scrooge-like, but I find "following" to be annoying/distracting and actually created a dummy Facebook account to keep my posts off my primary page. Any suggestions for similar sites that aren't as interactive?
I agree that Pinterest can be totally overwhelming. You start pinning, browsing and repinning, and before you know it you've got a board with hundreds of pins and sorting through them sucks. What starts out as fun inspiration becomes a disorganized mess. And the integration with Facebook is clogging up my whole wall! I just started using a new site called clipix that (in my opinion) takes the best of Pinterest without the stuff that annoys me. It lets you keep your boards private if you want to and then you can choose to share on Facebook, Twitter, etc if you want. I like it because I feel like I have a lot more control over my information. I've actually started using Pinterest for inspiration and then saving stuff over at clipix. Works great for me :)
Evernote is also a great "pinboard" option. But my advice is to pick one. Between my blog, evernote and pinterest, I can never remember where I put the info for that great website I'm trying to think of. . . .
I primarily use it for cooking ideas. A great idea for soon-to-be-pinners is to have a set goal in mind before using it. With mine, I don't even have to log in..I see something I like, grab the recipe and I'm done.
Balance in everything! While I adore Pinterest - there is something so wonderful about leafing through magazines and as you mention touching and feeling samples that can lead to real creativity!! Shared the PINTEREST DIET PLAN here - http://www.northerncottage.net/2012/02/pinterest-diet-plan.html
I too use Pinterest as a bookmarking tool - I've never thought of it as an online moodboard, and I don't think that is the intended purpose of it? I think Olioboard/Polyvore etc is what you're thinking of.
I totally agree about the linking/referencing. I can't vent enough about how mad it makes me when you can't find original sources for images. It's just bad internet etiquette.
Also, I don't understand why people find it overwhelming? If you create boards with specific themes (avoid broad, umbrella themes), everything is easy to navigate and find.
Want to second the recommendation for Evernote- I just made the leap after finding too much of the same aesthetic on Pinterest (and the social element, which didn't interest me) and finding Tumblr to be lacking in ability to organize posts.
Considering that I also use email and rss feeds to tuck away bits and images, Evernote seems to be exactly what I was looking for.
I don't have the space for a physical inspiration board, but I do keep a large journal where I can paste magazine images and stuff, and am (happily) required to keep a similar sketchbook for my graphic design classes.
Like others, I use it as a visual bookmark service. Saving sites to my favorites never worked for me because I would always forget to re-visit them.
When I first started using pinterest, I did a lot of browsing. I rarely browse now because of the repeat images
Is this new that facebook is linked to your pinterest account? Because I signed up months ago with my own pinterest account, not facebook. I recently noticed it was all over facebook with the new timeline issues... it got annoying and I didn't really use my facebook anyway, so I deleted my facebook. My pinterest is still active. I didn't even use the same email address. I did hear some complaints about people wanting a pinterest but weren't able to sign up because they didn't have a facebook or twitter account. Seems a bit silly that it needs to be attached considering everything you pin shows up on the newsfeed anyway, unnecessary that it also shows up on your facebook.
I've really enjoyed pinterest, but that's because I loved searching through links to new ideas. I have love finding new ideas on what I can make, craft, cook and such. Ignoring the social media and the facebook timeline (which I unfortunately had to accept), I've found new blogs and new sites that I don't know that I would have come across on my own...including this fantastic site. I just bookmark the sites and now go to them directly. For that alone, pinterest is worth it!
Pinterest... hmm... a whole site built on the idea of stealing intellectual property?? http://cozyhomemaking.typepad.com/blog/2012/02/i-knew-it.html
I wholeheartedly agree that it can be a major wammy where time wasting is concerned. Still, I do both... I have an inspiration wall with the touchy-feely types of inspiration AND some inspirations that I found via Pinterest. I like to mix things up and still, love Pinterest as long as I am disciplined with the way I spend my time!
I'm surprised that a lot of the focus of the previous comments are just about trolling pinterest for inspiration, and the annoyance that it's 'old' trends, or whatever.
I do look at what the people I follow pin, but a lot of the benefit to pinterest for me is when I use the pin it 'button' on my web browser. I add the recipes I find online, I add the home inspiration, or knitting patterns I come across so I can remember what I want to knit. I've used it to pin images of the knitting patterns I have in book form, so I have a visual reminder of what I want to make, so it's not just online content. Using the iphone app you can photograph things you come across to pin, which is very useful.
If your only use of pinterest is scanning through the content that others have already added, I think you are really missing the point. Choose not to follow anyone (you can do that), and just use it to pin items you find through the blogs you read, books you have, etc.
And like a few others have said, you can go into settings and make a few changes so it doesn't post your information to your FB timeline, so it doesn't link your pinterest profile to FB, as well as making your pinterest profile unsearchable on search engines. I'm guessing they will soon be making more privacy settings with the outcry that it's not 'private'. My assumption is they didn't think people would be so concerned about that when they started out.
Pinterest users can have private boards now by using the MikeLike Button.
Pinterest Private Boards