Recently Mother Nature sent a tornado roaring through the Bride’s city and then dumped 8 inches of unexpected snow on us. In the midst of all this, hunkered down in the basement with her dogs and laptop, my lovely daughter thought she’d send me an invitation to join Pinterest. Without thinking, without knowing exactly what it was I was doing, I said “Sure!” and clicked OK! Instead of writing, or drawing a bath for stress relief, I was trapped by snow in my study and started Pinning away…
All of a sudden I had 33 followers, most of whom I don’t know, and 25 people “repinned” a picture I tacked onto my virtual bulletin board of a lap pool; this means they copied it into one of their Boards. What is Pinterest you might ask? Well I’m sure whoever invented it is going to make a bundle for one thing. It’s a platform that let’s you tack up pictures you find online (not from Facebook mind you) under “Boards” that you can create and rearrange at will. Reminds me of those collages kids make in middle school on poster board. For instance, my lap pool was under a Board I called “To Build or Not to Build.” Look at people’s Boards and you get a pretty good idea of what makes them tick. Attention Dr Jim, my Psychologist brother. People are Pinning pining for lap pools, puppies and travel spots. They are posting pictures of food they either want to make or have made. The Rocker’s band (Parlor Mob is on tour now – http://www.theparlormob.com/tourdates) asked their fans if they should join Pinterest. Overwhelming answer, “NO,” make music please.
So astute! Another great way to waste your time alone, in front of a computer. And yet, it has become a guilty pleasure. Here is where you can yearn for something, express your creative self, find like-minded, creepy strangers? But the way I think of it is the way the Flapper would cut out pictures and hang them on the refrigerator. She was a big Norman Vincent Peale gal. If you just visualize something, your mind will make it happen. The yin and yang of build it, and they will come.
Whoa! Someone just “repinned” my picture of an Oak Bluff’s carousel horse. This was under my “Favorite Things” Board. It is the oldest, still standing carousel in the US on Martha’s Vineyard, and my kids loved it when they were little. I wonder if the person repinning knows anything about it, or if she just likes the picture? I made a new Board today called “Smart Women” cause I was tired of the sexist tilt our country is experiencing and seeing all these stick skinny or glam celebrity pictures on other Boards.
Who benefits? Probably it’s free ads for some and just fun for others. My favorite shoe store Scarpa
Scarpa
My Closet
An amazing article, thanks for the writing.