Pinterest like ‘digital crack for women’

Pinterest has become the Web's hottest young website, particularly among women.

Pinterest has become the Web's hottest young website, particularly among women.

Published Mar 15, 2012

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London - Do you know about Pinterest? No? Well, it’s time to swot up then, as anyone worth their computer chip in Silicon Valley is predicting, big, big things for the photo-sharing website.

Founded by Yale graduates Paul Sciarra and Ben Silbermann, Pinterest has already amassed a huge following, with 11 million unique users in January - making it the fastest site in history to reach and exceed 10 million users.

Time magazine named it one of the five best social media sites of 2011. On Facebook it has over a million “likes” which is more than Kylie Minogue’s page.

So why is it so popular? Well, the site is essentially a virtual moodboard where you can organise, categorise and share your favourite pictures, photos and images.

Pinterest appeals to our natural propensity for collection, hoarding - and showing off. You create boards of beautiful or interesting things found online or uploaded from your own computer. You don’t need a login to have a look around, but you’ll need one to start your own pinboard.

People are using the site to aid things such as planning weddings, decorating homes, organising recipes - or just even just share their collection of Ryan Gosling images. The idea is to browse and create moodboards for inspiration, to connect with friends, for research, marketing - or for a bit of fun. And best of all? It’s free.

A new Pinterest user, I spent a happy 30 minutes searching for images of cute Jack Russell and Pomeranian puppies - although I could have waded through more admirable categories like architecture, film, gardening and history.

Be warned, this is addictive. Half an hour passed in a flash. It’s little wonder The Washington Post described the website as “digital crack for women”. - Daily Mail

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