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Last week I read a post on Saturday Evening Porch‘s blog about something called Pinterest. That was the first time I had ever heard of it, and I wasn’t really clear about what it is. No matter, I thought. It’s probably just some passing fad, like Angry Birds, something else I’ve never seen and don’t understand the workings of. Then lo and behold, this morning’s paper had a full-page article on Pinterest, beginning with “Chances are you’ve heard of Pinterest…” Actually, if I hadn’t just read SEP’s great blog post last week, I would still be in the dark, which I guess I still am since I don’t understand how Pinterest works.
However, I just read a post today that says if you’re a blogger, you definitely need to be on Pinterest to promote your blog, so now I’m worried I’m shooting myself in the foot if I don’t look into this. But I don’t even know how to Twitter ( or is that tweet?), even though I have an account and apparently have followers. My daughter was the one that set up both my Twitter account and my Facebook account and linked my blog to them. Speaking of Facebook, I keep getting these emails that tell me I’ve got notifications pending. Am I supposed to do something about that? Does that require me to actually go on Facebook?
I can barely come up with four or five posts a week and read other people’s blogs, and how on earth am I expected to Twitter (or tweet) and keep up with Facebook, and now add this Pinterest to my routine and still be able to see the light of day? Yet I know there are a bunch of people doing just that. Oh, is that why so few people seem to be outside taking a walk in the fresh air?
Coming East 
It’s probably better not to start. I did and have not turned back since! Although it’s a great way to promote your blog. I like to “pin” some of my blog photos and recipes. The posts get traffic.
It will be interesting to see if Pinterest takes off like Facebook or dies a slow death.
I don’t know how people manage to do it all. I get so far behind with email and blogging, I’m thinking about giving up and spending my days outdoors instead.
It’s so tempting, isn’t it Robin? I’d have so much more time if I gave up blogging. Maybe I’d even go back to writing my novel. But it’s hard to stop and leave my blogging friends. I would miss all of you.
I’m avoiding it, too, have enough to keep me busy without looking for more. And, yes, I’d like to be outside, too!
Especially on a day like today, Patti!
Although blogging is still new to me and I don’t have all the answers, I started with a friend’s commercial blog. She has a local gift shop/catalog company. That was and is so much fun that I tried a personal blog, Technicolor Day Dreams. Then my son’s business needs a blog too, so have just begun on that. Not getting paid but everyone says I should be. I found that many businesses do not have the time or the inclination or the talent to write for promotion. So I suspect it would be fairly easy to offer to blog for them for a fee. You are such a talented writer Susan, I suspect you would have no problem. Check out the blog I do for the local gift shop at http://virginiabornandbred.wordpress.com .
Thanks for the encouragement, Dor. It’s so much harder to write for someone than just writing for yourself. Then I get into confidence issues, anxiety…I’m going to check out your blog.
I tried to go to the Born and Bred website, but your link took me to the Virginia Shopper. I can’t seem to find that blog, Dor.
The Virginia Shopper IS the blog. I’m The Virginia Shopper, and I write all the posts there for the store called, Virginia Born & Bred. It’s http://virginiabornandbred.wordpress.com for the blog. The last one was a kind of travelogue about places to go in Lexington, Virginnia called The Other Lexington. Other posts are on products, artists, etc. Sorry for the confusion Susan and thanks for looking.
Wow, Dor! I’m going to have to put the Virginia Shopper on my bookmarks page. You know, I think you need to take a business trip, all expenses paid, to do some research and writing about the Hampton Roads area for your Virginia Shopper blog. Don’t you represent all of Virginia? Let me know when you schedule your trip so we can get together.
I’ve avoided Pinterest like the plague. From what I’ve heard from my own daughters and other friends, it is HIGHLY addictive. I don’t have time for addictions because right now my kids’ weddings are my addiction….and I hear tell that there is a black hole of wedding planning ideas on Pinterest just waiting to suck me into!! NOT GOING THERE! 😉
Oh, no, Mama, you don’t want to go there! I’m so excited for you about your two weddings, though I know you must be going ga-ga!
Yes, I’m going ga-ga! (And I don’t mean that I’m listening to Lady Gaga, either!) We don’t have just two weddings this year, we have THREE! Yep, you read that correctly, all THREE of our children are getting married in 2012!! Pray for sanity for me, won’t you please??? 😉
Unbelievable, Mama! Have they never heard of eloping? If you need a beach vacation when it’s all over, let me know. Your room awaits you, complete with padded walls.
I just heard about Pinterest, but have not looked into it, so you know more than I do. If you are interested in getting paid for posts, check out BlogHer. If you’d like some “cascading” advice on Twitter or Facebook, please send me an e-mail. You can set up your blog to automatically post to one, then to the other account. You can visit the accounts as little or as often as you want. By the way, I turned off the notifications in Facebook. Too many distractions.
Thanks, Adela. My daughter linked my blog to both Facebook and Twitter, so I don’t have to do anything there. I will check out BlogHer. Thanks for the advice.
I only joined Facebook because my kids belong. It lets me keep up with when their dog barfs on the rug, and other important stuff like that. I am not a Tweeter, nor do I text on my phone. I think it is important to draw a line in the sand and say – this is where my computer life ends and my regular life begins!
I joined Facebook to keep up with friends when we moved from San Antonio to Virginia, but I rarely look at it.
Well said. I agree, “This social networking thing can eat up your life…” If we let it, we are not in the driver’s seat. I ignore FB pendings.
I’m addicted to Mr. Word, Amy, so I don’t need anything else to occupy my time.
Once again you are voicing my sentiments exactly! Adding Pinterest to FB and Twitter and blogging would be just over the top! I’ve been invited to Pinterest, looked around, and quickly backed out. However…Melissa at Play 101 uses it and just put one of my blogs on there, and then referenced it on Twitter. If you would like to be found, it seems like a good way to go. I am also blogging for a catalog gift store, so I may be missing something here to give that blog more exposure. But for my personal blog, Technicolor Day Dreams, I love remaining anonymous (except among those of my own choosing), like you.
So you have different blogs for different purposes, Dor? Do some of them pay? Sure would love to earn mad money from writing, but I don’t know to go about doing it without being on the computer all the time. Pinterest doesn’t interest, but I wonder if it is just a passing fad or will go the way of Facebook?
I love Facebook, but since I’m mysterious and anonymous on my blog, my blog’s Facebook page has two friends and a few blog “likes” and that’s it. It is linked to my blog, but I can’t put up an icon because I don’t have enough friends to make it work Facebook’s while, apparently. And I can’t be bothered with Twitter. An endless stream of everyone’s thoughts as they have them, no matter how inconsequential, at 140 characters apiece? No thanks. I’ll be leaving Pinterest alone, as well. As you say: aren’t we all in front of computers enough as it is?
I’m with you, oh mysterious one. I will not be adding another networking site to my life.
I’ve had a few invites from friends to this Pinterest but I avoid it like the plague because I’ve heard it’s a huge time waster, very addictive (much like facebook!) the last thing I need is one more thing to take my time away from doing things…like walking in the fresh air! My blogging has become a huge addiction and I need to take breaks.
You are so right, Darla. My blogging is all I need, and even then some, I stress if I don’t post nearly every week day.
Funny, I just heard about Pinterest too I looked at it, have not been able to figure it ou. I read an article in my paper, (perhaps the same one you read) and still can’t figure it out. I think you have to log in, and then the secrets will be revealed. My niece is using it so I might ask her. Unfortunately, like you, I already spend enough time online reading a few blogs and writing my own, so I’m not sure I should add another habit. I’m ignoring twitter and will probably continue to do so. I ‘m on facebook, mainly to keep up with what my out of town kids are doing. Remember when things were simpler Susan?
Oh, HG, how nice it was when things were simpler. But I also like that technology has shrunken this big world of ours, so good things come of it, too. You just need to know how to use it in moderation.
I didn’t know about Pinterest either – I’d seen the word, didn’t have meaning for me so I ignored it. I followed your link and discovered something important… Pinterest can be harmful to your waistline. Given a choice on that bulletin board between words that all visually look alike and pictures of cakes, brownies and sticky buns… I’ll follow the sticky buns every time!! I did find a recipe for nutella brownie goey cake bars. I’ll let you know what I learned from Pinterest after I try them…
Very funny, Carol! Don’t you have to be invited to join Pinterest though? How can you get that brownie recipe?
I just looked through the items posted, loved the brownie pictures and a few clicks later I was on her blog. The recipe is on .
Thanks, Carol.
Very funny, Carol! Don’t you have to be invited to join Pinterest though? How can you get that brownie recipe?
Sometime back, I read of Pinterest on a blog where the person was not happy, A photo or something that belonged to the blogger was posted on Pinterest, so the blogger went and tried to join Pinerterest to find out more about it and their digital-property being posted there, but the blogger couldn’t join because you had to be invited. I didn’t follow it any further, so I don’t know how it worked out.
Recently, Pinterest was mentioned on our local news show and they thought it was something grand. The best I understood it was, if you’re surfing and find an image that interest you, you can ‘Pin’ it to or on your Pinterest wall or account. I don’t know what they called it. You can then go to your page/wall/account thingy and see this image anytime you want.
I went to check out Pinterest and couldn’t make much sense out of it. I decided to join and read their help/faqs and all that nonsense… I couldn’t join because you have to be invited. ~Paim slap~
I decided that any community that was so dead-set and automatically knowing who knows me, right from the get go, doesn’t need me in their community.
Personally, I choose to bookmark or follow RSS feeds of web sites, blogs or photo journals that interest me. I have enough accounts across the net. For now, I don’t do Pinterest and I don’t know anyone who does, so I doubt I ever join.
Twitter is a one-sided conversation… It’s very flawed in it’s format, in that you have to keep switching screens/windows just to follow a conversation… or I’m using it wrong. lol I have an account there that posts my WordPress entries. I’ve had it about a year, I have only had only few visits from anyone visiting from twitter. I keep the account because it’s all set up and functioning without my assistance. I do sometimes post an url to a recipe or article on it. Never do I post anything on it and expect a conversation or feedback because rarely ever does anyone pay me much mind or tweets-to-me. That’s cool though, I’d rather blog. 😉
I’m happy to tell you that I’m one of your followers on twitter. 🙂
Thanks for that great comment, E.C. I, too, think I will forgo Pinterest. I don’t like the idea of having to be invited, like pledging a sorority, anyway. As for Facebook, my blog is linked to it and Twitter, but I agree that I don’t need to be involved in those two things either. I do check in with Facebook if I get an email that a friend has written on my wall, but that’s about all. This social networking thing can eat up your life, if you let it, and isn’t it sad how many people let it!
My daughter loves it. That’s all I know. Oh dear, sounds like I need a “P” lesson now.
Get your daughter to show you all the ins and outs, Georgette. Sounds too complicated for someone over forty to figure out.
I did Facebook for a couple of years but quit finally. The real reward in blogging is not whether you are widely read but how it acts as a journal for your feelings, opinions and interests. Beats $100/hr of therapy, no?
You have now definitely piqued my pinterest. I’ll be checking it out.
Yes, check it out for me, Big Al. And I like the idea of blogging as a repository for your feelings, opinions, and interests.
As for Pinterest, don’t waste your time. It’s gimmicky and won’t be popular for long, I don’t believe.
Thanks, Big Al. As soon as I heard about it, I knew it wasn’t for me. It will be interesting to see what happens to it. It could disappear, as you suggest, or it could take off. Hard to tell these days.
With technology, my rule is can you survive without or will it genuinely make your life better or easier? Do what you need/want to and don’t worry about anyone else’s bandwagons. Have fun! 🙂 PS. If Facebook does email you with notifications pending then yes, it does require you (or your daughter) to check out your account. Unless it’s just easier to ignore them all!
Thanks, Eye. I guess I should check in with my Facebook account. Have you tried the Pinterest site yet?
LOL. You’re so right. Like me some people have far too much time on their hands,
Do you use Pinterest, GCB? I’m afraid to get started. I think I’ll ignore it like I do Twitter and Facebook.