Tuesday's Tip - Pinterest

If you have not yet explored the addictive website Pinterest, I highly suggest it. Or perhaps not...it all depends on how much expendable time you have. Pinterest is a virtual pinboard that allows you to gather ideas you find on the web into one place. Think of it as a bulletin board where you can pin all the great visual ideas you have seen on the Internet in one place and organize it better than your bulletin board at home. But Pinterest goes a step further and lets you see the great ideas of other people...hence where you will spend your expendable time!

Pinterest works by allowing users to "pin" content from a blog or website to Pinterest pin boards. You can organize your pins in whatever way you like. You may have noticed that some of your favorite blogs have added the Pin It symbol at the bottom of their blog entries. You can use this button to post the image with a link to the blog post to your Pinterest board. It goes without saying that this is a great way to market your blog.

I was first attracted to Pinterest for the different ideas for graphic design. But one day out of curiosity I did a search for "genealogy" and up came a photo from my blog! I was surprised and then excited because I realized what a gem this site could be for genealogy. I found some interesting ideas for framed genealogy trees, genealogy decorating, some old photos and more. Keep in mind that the bulk of the "pins" or images you see on Pinterest are linked to a website. So behind that one cool image you see there may be a website or blog with content right up your lane.

To top it off, some of your favorite websites are starting their own Pinterest boards as well. Here are just a few of the interesting boards I've come across:

Ancestry.com Pinterest board
Historic Images of America Pinterest board
U.S. National Archives Pinterest board

Pinterest is a great way to help in planning a party or a family reunion. You can search for party favor ideas, hotels, and activities and then gather it all on one board for all the planners to view. Or you can start a board of your favorite sites and books in your genealogy kit bag.

Some Pinterest ettiquette: Remember that some one still owns the image that you add to Pinterest so pin with caution. The proper way to "pin" something is to go directly to the website or blog itself and pin the image from there. This drives traffic to the original site. Avoid just "re-pinning" items from a friend's boards as this does not help out the original site.

Enjoy!