by Sara-Jessica Dilks

Note: The Dart has recently created its own Pinterest account, which reflects the St. Teresa’s lifestyle. Check it out by clicking here!

Sophomore Maddie Knopke sat in her room, staring at the screen of her Macbook. As the mouse scrolled down the web page, so did her eyes. She scanned the page for “cool pictures”, or things that looked “out of the ordinary”. Finally, her eyes stopped, noticing an X-ray photo of a human skeleton holding a film camera, revealing both the intricate inner workings of the skeleton and the camera. Within two seconds, she “pinned” the photo onto her virtual bulletin board, specifically in a subcategory called “photography”.

“Honestly when I signed up, I didn’t really know what it was,” Knopke said. “I started learning how it worked and it became addicting.”

In order to create a Pinterest account, one has to either apply and be placed on a waiting list, or receive an invitation via email from a friend who already has one. Recently, a growing number of St. Teresa’s students have begun to join the website, especially with the new update of its iPhone app in February 2012. It allows for users to create image collections, or pinboards, with themes including fashion, food, travel destinations, celebrities, or art and photography. Pinterest encourages its members to upload, organize, and save images, otherwise known as pins, onto their pinboards.

According to Knopke, who’s Pinterest account can be found here, the concept of Pinterest is fairly simple, and considers it as “basically just a big online bulletin board”.

“You start out following other people’s pins, which are pictures, and then if you see a pin you like you can either repin it or like it.”

Some people also opt to download the “pin it” button onto their browser’s toolbar, which enables users to pin their own photos from any other website onto one of their boards. Knopke finds this feature one of the more useful assets, and also likes the simplicity and quickness of the website.

“It’s definitely more user-friendly [than other sites] since there are more pictures and it’s not complicated.”

According to www.thestreet.com, Pinterest is the fastest website ever to draw 10 million hits in one month, making it one of the fastest-growing trends in the world of technology. Knopke says that she sees many other advantages of the website over popular social networking sites including Facebook, Twitter, or Tumblr.

“I really like it because it’s not statuses or posts [like on Facebook or Twitter],” Knopke said. “You don’t have to go look at everyone else’s statuses, or have to look through everyone else’s pictures and see exactly what they’re doing. It’s much more centered around you.”

According to Knopke, she uses Pinterest primarily to “look for cool things”. Usually, she goes on the site for entertainment, but sometimes to find inspiration for fashion, photography, or craft ideas.

Senior Kerry Egan also has a Pinterest account (which can be found here), but uses it most often to research outfit ideas, vacation destinations, and to find new online shopping sites.

“Sometimes I just pin things and don’t really actually do anything with them, but there have been times when it has been useful,” Egan said. “For example, I used Pinterest to find a bunch of the recipes for the Christmas cookies that I gave as gifts.”

Another member of the STA community, biology teacher Ms. Sarah Skidmore, uses Pinterest regularly, primarily for browsing wedding ideas, DIY projects, and home decor. Skidmore discovered the site in Oct. 2011 through her friends, and since has pinned about 750 images.

“Since I’m newly engaged, and even before I was, I’ve been pinning wedding ideas, bridesmaid dresses, just everything weddings,” Skidmore said.

Skidmore notes that Pinterest has a different purpose than many other websites, which is that it can display one’s interests through the interests of others. Since registering for the website, she has recommended it in passing to many others.

“I told all my sisters about it, who are in high school, and got them on it,” Skidmore said. “I’d recommend it if you are crafty or are just looking for new ideas. But it’s really useful because I actually do the things that I see [on Pinterest] But also, I guess it could also be just another thing to procrastinate with.”