Pinterest & Social Media

Have you jumped on the Pinterest bandwagon yet?

I have had my Pinterest account for nearly 6 months but had not done much with it until recently.

For those of you who don’t know what it is, allow me to give my Cliff’s Notes version.

First, it’s sort of like one big cyber wish list.

Every time you see something you like, you can pin it (virtually) on one of your pin boards.

I created these boards:  Chocolate, Cookie Dough, Desserts

I pinned some of my own recipes on them as well as eye-catching recipes from others.

You can also re-pin other people’s pins on your boards.  Basically liking what they liked and pinning it up on your own board.

People pin everything from cool tattoo pictures they’ve seen to glass accessories for the home that catch their eye to favorite thrift store finds to decadent desserts to DIY projects and craft ideas to recipes to beautiful artwork or inspirational photography or cute puppies with pink collars.

I love old, rustic architecture.  Weather-beaten windows, shutters, doors, old colorful buildings and created a Rustic Architecture board.

You name it, pretty much everything that you can think of under the sun can be pinned.  And has been.

Some people have hundreds of boards (i.e. categories) and each board has dozens of pins in it.  It’s mind-boggling, actually.

There’s also ways to follow others and you can follow all their boards or only certain boards.

You can leave comments or “like” their boards or like items on the boards

I think it’s one of the hottest and most fun pieces of social media that’s come around in quite some time.

It’s like your wedding registry, baby registry, Christmas Wish List, recipes you want to make, vacation destinations you have on your life bucket list, and every list of items and things you’ve ever wanted, liked, or dreamt about all in one place.  Or haven’t even dreamt about but someone else has and you now like and want things you didn’t know existed.

The bright side to wasting time pinning things is that if someone ever asks you what you want for your birthday or a holiday of any kind, you have a built in and ready to go Wish List.

No need to say, hmmm, let me think about what I want.

Tell them to go check out your Pinterest page.  And there will be an easy 417 options and gift ideas for them to choose from.

Not to mention, it’s really fun for me to look at things other than food blogs.  I like reading about food, recipes, and drool-worthy desserts but it’s also fun to see some of the awe-inspiring boards that others’ have created that showcase their passions, hobbies, and interests.

Questions:

1. Do you have a Pinterest account?

2. How many social media accounts do you have?  Do you use them all?  Why or why not?

I am really digging Pinterest because it’s…

less random than Stumble

far more visually interesting than Twitter

more universally accessible than Instagram (not everyone has an iPhone)

more inspirational than Facebook

That said, there is so much social media!

There are so many ways and methods in which to communicate and forms of communication to check.  Overwhelming much?

Between email, blog reading, (my Google Reader is the both a blessing and a curse at times), and keeping up with personal Facebook accounts, fan page accounts of your friends, Twitter, text messages, phone calls and voicemails, there are days I want to just chuck my computer, phone, email, and every other form of communication out the window.

Until I realize that I think I’d miss it.

Being in touch (electronically) with others in this very cyber-focused world in which we live is simply a part of our lives.  And for better or worse, I think we’re all a little hooked on it.  Not necessarily a bad thing, just a thing. 

As long as technology isn’t cutting into other aspects of your life, i.e. family time, work time, workout time, pleasure-reading, cooking, keeping up with just life’s details, etc. I think it’s fine to enjoy technology and all the social media avenues.  They have their place and can be wonderful but of course only each person knows if she’s on cyber-overload.  We’ve all been there. 

Everyone’s threshold is different but once you hit it, you know it.  And just repeat the mantras, Step away from the screen and no one gets hurt.

A little unplugging can be fabulous.  And necessary.  Fresh air, exercise, reading a book, walking around, no Wifi, no phone, no computer, ahhh, deep breaths.  Freedom from it all can be just what the cyber doctor ordered if that omg one more thing to check and respond to feeling hits.  And then I find that after a little break, even two hours or 24 hours, I am craving it again.

What’s your take on social media and being connected vs. unplugging?  Do you ever experience social media or cyber overload?  What do you do about it in our very tech-oriented society?

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