I have a new favourite place to hang out online and it’s called ‘Pinterest’.  According to the Pinterest about page…

Pinterest is a virtual pinboard. Pinterest allows you to organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. You can browse pinboards created by other people to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests.

A ‘pin’ is an image added to Pinterest and it can be added from a website or your computer.  Now this is where it gets clever… each pin added to Pinterest using the ‘Pin It’ button (a button installed on your web browser) links back to the site it came from.  I spend so much time online and love the use of graphics but it’s one area that is so hard to keep organised with traditional browser bookmarks.  The linking back to the original website means you can always credit the original site (which you should do if you use anyone else’s images!) if you use the image in your blog.

It’s simple to organise your interests with different boards you can set up and name, people share their ‘pins’ by liking or repinning.  The potential of Pinterest for business use is slowly being discovered and like any new platform it will take a while for people to work out how they can utilise it.  It may be just as an organisational tool or for those working in creative fields like design, photography or fashion it truly could become a fantastic way of generating traffic back to your website.

You can even link your Pinterest account with Twitter and Facebook and share your pins on those networks.  At the moment I am using Pinterest for a combination of work and play, I love the idea of ‘pinning’ home decor ideas yet it will also come in very handy when I am sourcing images for web projects.  Here is my Pinterest profile:

Are you using Pinterest?  I’d love to hear if you are using it for your business and if you have noticed an increase in traffic back to your website or blog?