photo credit: sarah g

Perhaps you’re on Facebook or Twitter or Google+ or LinkedIn or all of them and more. Perhaps you’re not on any social network at all and can’t see the point. Perhaps you don’t know what the hell a social network is (click here!).

Are you visual?

If you’re overcommitted and feel like you’re going under for the third time because there’s just so much out there online, you may think I’m completely crazy to suggest you get involved in yet another social network.

But if you’re a visual person I am suggesting exactly that.

Pinterest

After hearing about it but resisting for weeks, I’ve just joined Pinterest. And I love it.

What is it? An online pinboard onto which you can pin any image around the web that inspires you or takes your fancy. Or upload your own images (great for the artists among you!) You can follow others and see what they like, so you get a wonderful cross-fertilisation of visual ideas and styles.

You can set up several different pinboards to group your topics together. For example when you’re decorating your living room and trying to remember that great colour combination you spotted a few weeks back, it’s right there on your “Home ideas” pinboard.

Or if you’re a photographer and get inspired by, say, trees, you can collect a glorious collage of tree images to inspire you.

Female

Another thing that might grab your attention about Pinterest is that unlike almost every other social media site, its membership demographic is currently overwhelmingly female. Eighty percent female to male in fact, and age range mostly in the 25 to 54 bracket. In other words this isn’t a site for teenage male geeks (although of course we love ‘em!).

Tutorial

Using Pinterest is really pretty intuitive, but if you’d like a tutorial, there’s a good one at BlogHer – click here.

Are you already on Pinterest?

My own Pinterest pinboards are still in a fairly embryonic state as I sort out categories and cherry-pick images. But of course I’d love for you to check them out. Click here to find me on Pinterest.

If you’re there too, please leave a link to your boards in the comments: I’d be really interested to follow you and see what’s grabbing your attention.