Part 1 of 3 in a series!

A seemingly innocent, but dangerous, addiction has been spreading like wildfire at The Cyphers Agency. Many of our lady employees, and a couple brave men, began dabbling in a tempting activity, just for occasional fun. Soon, we realized we were in too deep. Rather than try to escape the clutches of this dependency, we encouraged others in the office to join us on the dark side and also become hopelessly addicted… to Pinterest.

Pinning 101: Intro to Pinterest

Maybe you’re familiar with this irresistible website and know all too well about it’s devices, stealing every moment of your free time and convincing you that, Yes! You can bake those cupcakes, knit that scarf, build that super easy end table, design that enormous mansion that you totally will have one day!

If you’re not so up on Pinterest, however, this isn’t an empowerment workshop. Pinterest is a virtual bulletin board that “lets you organize and share things you find on the web.” Basically, Pinterest works like bookmarks, saving anything and everything you find on the Internet, but it’s a visual system. The thrill of Pinterest is that, by collecting all of your favorite ideas and images on your “boards,” you kind of feel like you have already bought those shoes, or sewn that dress, or taken that vacation. For those of us who can’t afford a shopping addiction, pinning is the next best thing.

The site says that it’s mission is to “connect everyone in the world through the ‘things’ they find interesting,” and it’s doing exactly that. The website is still invitation only, but here’s a rundown of how it works:

Much like other social networks, you can follow others (and find on Pinterest through your existing Facebook and Twitter profiles), which means their pins will show up on your homepage in Pinterest, sort of like your Facebook news feed. You can choose to just follow select boards of folks, if you want. You can also browse the latest pins from all over Pinterest, not just those you follow. And if you like what you see, all you have to do is click “Repin” and you’ve now pinned their pin, saving it forever on your own board, and send it forward to be viewed by everyone that follows you.

That’s just a basic explanation, of course. The best way to learn is to play around! If you’ve gotten an invite and you’re interested in more nuts and bolts, here’s a great beginner’s guide from blogger Sorta Crunchy.

And of course, I know you’re thinking, Pinterest is clearly a fun online toy and all, but why all the fuss? I’ll get into just why this is such a big deal in my next blog post!