What Is Pinterest and How to Use It

I don’t know whether I should love or hate the person who introduced me to Pinterest. It’s currently one of the most popular sites and a brilliantly fun way to spend countless hours! The site allows users to Pin images they are interested in onto boards the user creates in their account.

Popular boards range from fitness tips to home décor inspiration ideas. I personally enjoy finding unique DIY decorating projects online and this site is a great way to keep track of the ones I can actually see myself completing. Pinterest is still invitation only, but you can request an invite anytime or have a friend send you one. We can also send you one too; just email us at contest@homes.com with the subject “Pinterest Invite.” Here are the basics of how to use this awesomely addicting site.

Install the Pin It Button

Once you create your account, click on the “Add+” section at the top of the site. Click “Goodies” on the left hand side. The “Pin It” Button section will explain how to install the button for the browser you’re currently using (Pinterest is smart and knows which one you’re working with!) It’s very user friendly!

Create Your Boards

Users can create and organize their boards any way they like! I’ve seen boards for recipes, nursery décor ideas, art & music, pretty much everything you can imagine someone wanting to save and share with others. You just have to decide on the creative name of your board, the category & who can pin.

Pinning

Pinning something is posting an image you see online onto one of the boards you create. You can also upload your own photos from a phone or your computer to a board. Once you have the Pin It button in your tool bar it’s very easy to pin. When you see an image you like on a site, click the pin it button, all the images from the page you’re currently viewing will come up and you just pick the image you like. Then a screen will come up and let you pick which board to put it on and add a comment. The pin will link back to the original source, so the owner gets the credit!

There is also the option to re-pin an image you see while browsing on Pinterest. For this, when you find an image someone has pinned that you want to add to one of your boards, hover your cursor over the image and click repin. You will be able to pick the board you want it on and add your own description or keep the description the original pinner created.

Liking and commenting are also options to images already on Pinterest. If you would like to do this for an image, hover over it and click either comment to add you comment to the pin or click like. Doing this will not add the image to any of your boards. If you like an image it will show up on your profile under Likes.

Now you know how to use the wonderful site! There are tons of creative ideas out there so get to pinning While you’re in Pinterest land, be sure to follow Homes.com to keep up with our awesome pins!