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So the semester is quickly coming to an end and as exam week falls upon us I see hundreds of students studying everywhere I look: the empo, Starbucks, Torg bridge and countless other places around campus. When I look at these students’ computers and see notes up on the screen, I immediately feel bad about myself. Why? Because instead of notes on my computer screen, I am on Pinterest swearing to myself that this is the last time I’ll click the “see more pins” button.
           For those of you who don’t know what Pinterest is, let me give you a little rundown. For girls, it’s probably more addicting than Twitter, Facebook and online shopping, which is really difficult to imagine. Pinterest, thanks to my wonderful friends at Wikipedia, is “a vision board-styled photo sharing website and app where users can manage theme-based image collections.” Basically, you create boards that interest you and pin pictures to that board for future reference. Pins like recipes, clever ideas, crafts, home decorating suggestions, inspirational quotes, funny pictures, the possibilities are endless. It was launched in March 2010 and has steadily gained popularity since then.
           Now when I first heard about Pinterest, I thought, “okay I really don’t see what is so cool about this,” which is probably what you’re thinking too. However, shortly after I started to learn how the website works I realized that this is one of the greatest inventions probably ever.
After you get an account, you can start “pinning” things that are interesting to you. Typical me, I started pinning anything and everything that I thought looked cool. After I realized I had pinned nearly 200 things I got overwhelmed. Not to worry, Pinterest allows you create boards and categorize your pins. I now have ten boards on my Pinterest, my favorite being my “I Love Weddings” boards. I have my whole wedding planned out and it would definitely scare my boyfriend if he knew that…oops.
So now you’re probably asking what type of things do you pin? Well that’s really up to you. The reason Pinterest appeals to so many people is because they have over 30 different categories you can browse, from architecture to home décor to sports to fashion to photography to gardening…pretty much anything you can think of. I have a board called “Recipes” where I have pinned way too many delicious recipes that I want to try over break.
Another cool feature of the website is the ability to link your account to Facebook. You can follow your friends and their pins will show up on your homepage. You also get notifications on your homepage when someone comments on one of your pins, likes one of your pins or repins a pin.
           So for those of you who have not discovered the amazing world of Pinterest, you should definitely go to pinterest.comand at least see what I’m talking about. It’s very difficult to explain through writing, so I suggest trying it out for yourself. You will be thanking me later. It’s amazing all the different creative ideas out there that you never would have thought of. It may take you awhile to figure it all out, I know it did for me, but once you get going you’ll be sure to be sucked into the Pinterest phenomenon.
**Writer’s note: Pinterest is not suggested for those students who are trying not to get distracted during finals…you’ve been warned**