As a late bloomer to Pinterest, I just didn’t get the whole thing: why would I “pin” something that I could just bookmark in my browser folder? I can always right-click and save images into my personal desktop. Why would I follow people whom I don’t know and risk myself to whatever THEY wanted to pin? On top of that, I don’t have any followers and that is just embarrassing.

That’s how I feel most users start with Pinterest. It looks intimidating with sensory overload and an endless supply of scrolling. I mean, when will I know when I’ve reached the end of the Pinterest? (Hint: there is no such thing as the end of Pinterest).

My fellow Denuologists were confused as to why I shunned Pinterest – it had all of the elements that I innately liked: inspiration, photos, articles, memes, and of course, it’s a time wormhole. So fine, reluctantly I decided to give Pinterest a try…and yes, within hours, I was hooked.

 

 

Now that I’m an avid pinner, I’ve noticed a few types of Pinners out there:

 

REPINNERS

These are the pinners that either repin things that are in their feed or go to Pinterest’s set categories to find and pin what’s out there. Most people probably start off here – you see what’s out there, you build your own arsenal of pins to represent your style and inspiration, then you graduate to the next level (Seeker).  Normally Repinners don’t do any harm, except when you’ve seen the same pin at least 10 different times in various categories and in your feed. Then you wish they would have their own stuff to pin because how many times can you see the same polka dot sweater?

 

SEEKERS

These pinners are those that go to outside websites to pin interesting articles, fashion choices, and recipes. Usually with original content that you haven’t seen, these are the types of pins that you have to click on to understand the full context. Unlike most fashion, beauty, and humor pins, Seekers usually pin recipes, health-related articles, and full exercises to read and click-through. While new content is great, sometimes you just want to know everything in a single pin. How many times have you clicked on a pin only to see a 20 slide article and then quickly exit before reading the first slide?

 

CATEGORY FILLERS

Usually pinners have an expected amount of boards with similar themes, “Food,” “Fashion,” “Fitness,” “Home,” and “Wedding” are the top five that come to mind. But often times, Category Fillers create specific boards to fill with like-images. Categories like “Surf,” or “Christmas,” are filled with related images that don’t necessarily fit anywhere that you would want to pin or use, they just fill up your feed with cute Santas and kids opening presents. At a certain point, you debate if you want to stop following the board or the person.

 

SUPER PINNERS

They often are a blend of Repinners and Seekers, it’s amazing to see what a cult following they have. Not just celebrities that utilize Pinterest, like Nina Garcia, but “celebrities” in their own right within the Pinterest world. These are the pinners that have over 250,000 followers and for every pin they create, it is immediately repined and liked within seconds. Suddenly your two repins that you were somewhat proud of is dust compared to the 415 repins and 248 likes within minutes. Often times they evoke a “Hey, my pin was better than that…” feeling.

 

Admittedly, I started off as a full-on Repinner and have started to graduate to being a Seeker, I’m still guilty of going through categories and finding things that apply to me – but to that point, there is no right or wrong way to pin – maybe that’s the joy of Pinterest. Unlike Facebook and Twitter where people have incorrectly used them with digital social faux pas, Pinterest is somewhat of a new turf. A place where even if you’re the most annoying Category Filler, someone will still appreciate and repin what you have to offer. And don’t we all like that little email that tells us who’s liked and repined our finding?

 

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