Special offer

Pinterest - A Social Cataloging Community

By
Education & Training with Retired Executive Director of Education at eXp Non-Licensed

Pinterest is basically a social catalog.  It's a community to share collections of things you love.  It's similar to a "like" on Facebook, or a "+1" on Google Plus. It's even like "Digg" "Delicious" "StumbleUpon" and "ReTweeting" but the difference at Pinterest is that it's all about "Pin" or pinning content. 

According to TechCrunch, Pinterest hit 10 million US monthly uniques faster than any standalone site everAGBeat says that Pinterest now drives as much traffic as Twitter  Since Pinterest accounts are by invitation only, how do you get invited? 

You can ask a friend, or you can also just request one like I did right from the site.  It took about three days, then an email invite arrived at my in-box.  I've setup a couple boards myself to see how it all works and to learn how to navigate around the site.  To be honest, I like the ease of use.  I can see the potential the site has and why it's getting tons of attention.  It's worth checking out, Pinterest has something for everyone for sure. 

Some Quick Pinterest Etiquette:

Be Nice! Be Creative. The best pinboards mix products, art, recipes and images from all across the web. Try not to pin everything from a single source.  Give Credit. If you blog about an item you found on Pinterest, it's nice to credit your fellow pinners by linking back to the original pin.

A Few Tips once you get started:

Make sure you Install the bookmarklet. It lets you add a pin from any website with just one click. 

Be sure to follow others pinboards. You can use your Twitter and Facebook accounts to find other friends on Pinterest to follow as well as invite. Pinterest is as much about discovering new things as it is about sharing.

Pin carefully! Use big images, write thoughtful descriptions, and pin things you really love. Also, no nudity, sorry!  :)  Oh yeah, and ' forget to follow me on Pinterest too.

Evelyn Kennedy
Alain Pinel Realtors - Alameda, CA
Alameda, Real Estate, Alameda, CA

Brad:

Pinterest looks interesting.  I will join and hopefully take advatage of this site.  Thanks for the tips about using Pinterest.

Feb 13, 2012 10:59 AM
Jo Olson
HOMEFRONT Realty - Kettle Falls, WA
Retired - HOMEFRONT Realty @ LAKE Roosevelt

I love it and I am doing it my way.  I am not going to get into the "real estate agent" mindset on this one.  I do it just because I like to!  :)

Feb 13, 2012 11:12 AM
Melissa Zavala
Broadpoint Properties - Escondido, CA
Broker, Escondido Real Estate, San Diego County

How timely. I have my invitation to Pinterest, but I was looking for someone to show me how to use it. Looks like I'll be working on it tonight. Thanks

Feb 13, 2012 11:25 AM
Mary Borth
Bloomington-Normal, IL
LuxeHomesBN.com

I have been addicted to Pinterest for months. I have several creative hobbies I love to pursue in my spare time and also love to collect ideas for interior design and landscaping. The greatest benefit so far to me has been the money it has saved me in buying magazines - sounds silly but it's true. Everything you can find in any magazine is on Pinterest somewhere. :)

I don't really see an application at all for sales, because as an avid user, I would be very annoyed if advertisements started showing up in my newsfeed! However, I do mention it to my contacts and on my social media outlets quite often. I invite them to join and to check out my boards on home organization, decorating, crafting, etc. I think it's another fun resource we can direct them too, but I will never use it to promote listings.

Thanks for bringing up the topic - it will be interesting to see how it evolves as it grows.

Happy Pinning and stop by and say Hi!

Feb 13, 2012 01:18 PM
Brad Andersohn
Retired Executive Director of Education at eXp - Boulder Creek, CA
ActiveBrad - 707.646.1876

Hi Brad,

Dawn Rousseau likes your pin 'Miami FL. - Unbelievable!!'

Whitney Meyer repinned your pin 'vacation home? yes please.'

Dawn Rousseau repinned your pin 'my kind of pool'

Sara Sissel repinned your pin 'Miami FL. - Unbelievable!!'

Kari Lawlor repinned your pin 'Miami FL, won't have to go too far....haha'

Destiny Caleste repinned your pin 'Miami FL. - Unbelievable!!'

Katy Williams repinned your pin 'Miami FL. - Unbelievable!!'

Claire Moseley repinned your pin 'Miami FL. - Unbelievable!!'

Sharaya Renee repinned your pin 'Pillars. (Palm Avenue - Florida)'

Phyllis McDonald-Mattie repinned your pin 'Key Biscayne, FL'

Amy Martin repinned your pin 'Miami FL. - Unbelievable!!'

MissRudd repinned your pin 'Miami FL. - Unbelievable!!'

Ashley Cole repinned your pin 'Miami FL.:)'

Wayne Harriman started following all of your pinboards. Follow Wayne back.

Happy Pinning!

Thanks for the "repinning" everyone.  :-)

Feb 14, 2012 11:04 AM
Brad Andersohn
Retired Executive Director of Education at eXp - Boulder Creek, CA
ActiveBrad - 707.646.1876

....and thanks for all the follows too.  :-)

Hi Brad,

Diane Haley Brooks started following all of your pinboards. Follow Diane back.

Betty Jung started following all of your pinboards. Follow Betty back.

Joselle Marsh started following all of your pinboards. Follow Joselle back.

Cheryl Ritchie started following all of your pinboards. Follow Cheryl back.

Charles Kraus started following all of your pinboards. Follow Charles back.

Randy Leeper started following all of your pinboards. Follow Randy back.

Tiffany Kjellander started following all of your pinboards. Follow Tiffany back.

Lynda Eisenmann started following all of your pinboards. Follow Lynda back.

Ed Rybczynski started following all of your pinboards. Follow Ed back.

Greg Nino started following all of your pinboards. Follow Greg back.

 

Feb 14, 2012 11:07 AM
Christine Donovan
Donovan Blatt Realty - Costa Mesa, CA
Broker/Attorney 714-319-9751 DRE01267479 - Costa M

Brad - I think I just receive an invite for Pinterest, and I need to go dig into it.

Feb 14, 2012 01:37 PM
Lorraine or Loretta Kratz
Crescent Moon Realty, Inc. & Land N Sea Auctions. - San Marcos, CA
Certified Negotiation Consultants

Wow-another very interesting possibility to get involved in I am going to research and see if this is something I will use, I have gotten involved with other sites and just have not dedicated the time.

Feb 15, 2012 12:59 AM
Brad Andersohn
Retired Executive Director of Education at eXp - Boulder Creek, CA
ActiveBrad - 707.646.1876

Just a little more encouraging info about "how and why" Pinterest:

"Pinterest is generating more referral traffic to websites than Youtube, Google+, and LinkedIn combined!"

 

Feb 15, 2012 02:15 AM
Renée Donohue~Home Photography
Savvy Home Pix - Allegan, MI
Western Michigan Real Estate Photographer

I just started there last week.  Posted Mike's birthday peanut butter pie and my sis said "you need to get that up there!"  So my first pin I had something like 28 repins and 7 likes in 10 minutes.  This place is crazy!

Feb 15, 2012 01:14 PM
DeeDee Riley
Lyon Real Estate - El Dorado Hills CA - El Dorado Hills, CA
Realtor - El Dorado Hills & the Surrounding Areas

Hi Brad,

A friend told my daughter and I about Pinterest at Thanksgiving.  I love it! I'll have to look for you there!

Feb 15, 2012 02:35 PM
George Fanucci
CoreFact.com - Los Altos, CA
Internet - Technology - Business - Solutions

Brad, I had posted early this morning, and then discovered your post a few hours later.  Our views are complementary. I have added a link to your blog post, as an update to mine, since it's too late to reblog yours...

May I leave this here?  (I am also referring my visitors to these comments.)

A bunch of tips on how to approach Pinterest as a new user:

The Next Big Thing? :: Pinterest :: What Is It?

Feb 16, 2012 06:55 AM
Brad Andersohn
Retired Executive Director of Education at eXp - Boulder Creek, CA
ActiveBrad - 707.646.1876

There is so much going on with and at Pinterest right now, hope you're all keeping up with the latest news and fodder... 

Feb 17, 2012 09:32 AM
Brad Andersohn
Retired Executive Director of Education at eXp - Boulder Creek, CA
ActiveBrad - 707.646.1876

Pinterest just made the Top 10 Mobile Apps on iTunes Today~

Just sayin...  :-)

Feb 18, 2012 04:07 AM
Sherry Peckhoon Sim
Sims & Company - Cayucos, CA
Broker/Owner, Covering the Beautiful Central Coast

Interesting. Wil have to check this out. Thanks for sharing, Brad.

Feb 22, 2012 06:13 PM
Brad Andersohn
Retired Executive Director of Education at eXp - Boulder Creek, CA
ActiveBrad - 707.646.1876

Sherry - so far I'm loving it and also seeing the power of it's traffic generation.

Feb 23, 2012 03:50 AM
Georgie Hunter R(S) 58089
Hawai'i Life Real Estate Brokers - Haiku, HI
Maui Real Estate sales and lifestyle info

I just joined up and can see how it will be another addiction!  Hope you're having fun with it too.  They say it is great for driving traffic to your website, so we shall see!

Feb 26, 2012 06:00 AM
Lee & Pamela St. Peter
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices YSU Realty: (919) 645-2522 - Raleigh, NC
Making Connections to Success in Real Estate
Brad, getting hooked!  Count me in as another follower..  Oh and I'm here
Pamela
Feb 28, 2012 04:57 AM
Brad Andersohn
Retired Executive Director of Education at eXp - Boulder Creek, CA
ActiveBrad - 707.646.1876

OKEYDOKEY Pamela, I'll be following you too!  Pin some cool stuff for us~  :-))

Feb 28, 2012 01:44 PM
Brad Andersohn
Retired Executive Director of Education at eXp - Boulder Creek, CA
ActiveBrad - 707.646.1876

Updated Terms of Service

Over the last few weeks, we've been working on an update to our Terms. When we first launched Pinterest, we used a standard set of Terms. We think that the updated Terms of Service, Acceptable Use Policy, and Privacy Policy are easier to understand and better reflect the direction our company is headed in the future. We'd encourage you to read these changes in their entirety, but we thought there were a few changes worth noting.

  • Our original Terms stated that by posting content to Pinterest you grant Pinterest the right for to sell your content. Selling content was never our intention and we removed this from our updated Terms.
  • We updated our Acceptable Use Policy and we will not allow pins that explicitly encourage self-harm or self-abuse.
  • We released simpler tools for anyone to report alleged copyright or trademark infringements.
  • Finally, we added language that will pave the way for new features such as a Pinterest API and Private Pinboards.

We think these changes are important and we encourage you to review the new documents here. These terms will go into effect for all users on April 6, 2012.

Like everything at Pinterest, these updates are a work in progress that we will continue to improve upon. We're working hard to make Pinterest the best place for you to find inspiration from people who share your interest. We've gotten a lot of help from our community as we've crafted these Terms.

Thanks!

Ben & the Pinterest Team

Mar 25, 2012 02:27 PM