Pinterest.com is reportedly one of the fastest growing websites in Internet history, however, there are those that claim Formspring.com as the actual fastest growing. For my part, since I play the roll as an "early adapter" it seems like I have missed both of these boats. I suspect it is because I actually spend time writing rather than watching what all my millions of "friends" are doing at every instant of the day. In short, I may not have a life but at least my life isn't social networking.
So why did I sign up for Pinterest.com? Good question. Pinterest.com has been around for a couple of years (it came online officially in 2010) and is grabbing more and more media attention. My unvarnished opinion of the site is that it emulates one of those magazines I see in doctor's offices that I avoid reading. Initially, it is vastly different that Google+, which I feel is more focused and enables me to connect with genealogists rather than reading about what the cat threw up this morning.
Interestingly, one of my children (who will remain nameless) was on Pinterest.com and responded to me within 3 minutes of when I signed in. I should have picked up a clue to the nature of the site when I signed in and it asked me to sign in with my Facebook account. By the way, virtually none of my dear Facebook "friends" have migrated over to Google+ while the whole gang seem to be on Pinterest.com.
So far, I find a significant percentage of the content on Pinterest.com to be personally offensive. Unless I can find a way to filter out some of the junk, it appears that my sojourn there will be unproductive. The concept is interesting but it is sort of like walking through an mall. You might guess that I don't care for malls either besides the fact that I shop at very few of the stores that have mall locations. In fact, I probably haven't been in a mall for six months so why would I want one on my computer?
That brings up the next question, is there any possible way Pinterest.com can have valid and helpful genealogical content? And do I really want to collect pictures of cars and crafts? Well, I guess we shall see.
I don't like malls either (which I know is odd for a woman). Perhaps that's why I've been reluctant to try Pinterest.
ReplyDeleteHum...I've never linked Pinterest and Family History! That would be an interesting mix. There is the potential for a good connection between the two--especially with photographs of people or places. It's quite a visually driven site.
ReplyDeleteYes, the basic "everything" on Pinterest is very like a mall or magazine--that's a good way to describe it. I like it for certain things--crafty ideas, recipe ideas, decorating, and things to do with kids. It's basically a pin board or way to visually organize ideas found online. I usually restrict my surfing for new ideas to looking at the things my friends have pinned--that keeps me away from objectionable content.
It is a good search tool--I can type in "Valentine's Day Craft for children" and instantly get lots of great ideas. It will be interesting to see if you find a genealogy related use for it--or maybe a way to post your 360 panoramas? I already post many of our recipes on Pinterest. :)
I use pinterest to save genealogy books that I want to buy or peruse someday as well as forms that I use alot. I call that board Genealogy Books and Forms. I find it easier to remember the form or book if I see the picture of it rather than the title. I find that I am visual when it comes to remembering books. I also see it as being useful to pin the covers of current books I own and that I can pull up on my phone or computer when shopping. Hopefully, that will help me to stop adding duplicates to my library. And as a result, if my friends know my library, they might be more inclined to ask for a look up. I usually don't 'go to the pinterest mall' but I do look at boards of others that are following me. Weeds out the mall aspect and lets me see other pins that are similar to my interests. Not a fanatic, just see some applications for visual genealogists.
ReplyDeletei am experimenting with using pinterest as a bookmarking tool. It's too early to say if that is practical.
ReplyDeletePS: Could you please turn off the robot checking thing? Most people won't try to posy if that is working.
I have found that Pinterest is a useful tool for keeping track of sewing, decorating, cooking, and organizing ideas that I want to try someday. This way I don't have to have a lot of bookmarks or try to remember websites, and I can look at the picture and remember what it was at the website that I wanted to try. I avoid spending much time on the website because I have other things I need to do. I also try to only pin things that I really do want to make or do. I'm interested to see if you find that Pinterest is helpful for genealogy.
ReplyDeleteI use it like Tiffany does mostly. Except that most of my "pinning" comes from off of their site, not within it. They have a "Pin It" button that sits in my browser's toolbar and I can hit it on any webpage I might be viewing. Then the images from that page are available to add to one of my various pinboards. I can totally see a use for genealogy for images of places, people, events, or even various documents. Think how easy that could make it to collect census images in pinboards for different lines or the various family photos or...! I can easily see genealogy and Pintrest being compatible.
ReplyDeleteAs for questionable content - I do like Tiffany. I restrict my viewing on the site to pinboards of people with similar interests as me - and ones that I trust to not include lots of questionable material. Good luck deciding how or if you want to "Pin."
I use Pinterest for Family History Stories. There is a great APP that I use on my IPAD, called 'myMemoir'. It let's you pin a picture in the margin, and write anything you want about the picture. I have done the Main St of my home town in 1960, my first bicycle, my first car, ect. I do a GOOGLE search for the item and find a picture on-line. The picture helps bring back memories. I have set up a Family Story board on Pinterest. I invited family members to view the board and send me their stories about the pictures I post. I did a BLOG Post on the subject http://forgottenjourneys.blogspot.com/2012/02/recording-my-memories-stories-or.html.
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