A few weeks ago we overviewed a few of the most popular social media sites, including Pinterest. (If you missed that post visit here for a quick introduction!) We loved showing you the basics of the most popular social media sites but the truth is Pinterest is so big, interesting, and helpful (in more ways than you can imagine!) that we just have to talk about it more.

Categories

The great thing about Pinterest is how much stuff there is! Whether you're looking for ideas on DIY crafts, recipes, decorating ideas, picture of cute animals (because who doesn't love puppies and kittens?!) Pinterest has it. And want to know a bonus? If Pinterest doesn't have it, you can add it! But let's not get ahead of ourselves... First we'll talk about all the "Categories" Pinterest offers you to look through. Generally these are the more popular categories and chances are you'll find what you're looking for.

Now, we can't discuss every category Pinterest offers, because there's that many! But we can introduce you to some popular ones that we think you'll enjoy. The "DIY & Crafts" category is a huge one on Pinterest. With this category you can find art projects, DIY home decorations, tips on making scarfs, the list is endless! We understand if the do it yourself aspect scares you, not everyone is creative, I know I'm not! But the great thing is that many of these crafts and projects are simple and have step-by-step instructions that make it much easier. So have no fear, what's the worst that can happen? And if you were lucky enough to get that creative/artsy gene you can find plenty of tougher more intricate ideas that will blow your family and friends away!

Another really big category on Pinterest is "Food & Drink". Whether you're looking for dessert ideas, healthy recipes, quick and easy dinners, or a new drink to try you'll find it here. Just like the category above this is great because of the variety of options you have. If you're not exactly a chef you can find quick recipes that require just a few ingredients and simple steps. (I know I'm thankful for these!) But what if you're having a party or friends over for dinner? There are certainly recipes that take more time, effort, and ingredients but it all pays off once your friends see what you've made! Another awesome part of this category is the amount of healthy options people have shared. Eating healthy is so important and a lot of people think it's hard to do, but not anymore! Now there are tons of recipes on Pinterest of healthy dinners, and even healthy desserts, yes healthy desserts!

Thanks to Katherine from Fit Body Now for the pin!

Now, if you have only heard of Pinterest before there's probably a good chance it was because someone you knew got engaged, right? Because it seems like that's when everyone (or at least a lot of people...) start their Pinterest account. The reason why? Basically what we've said before, any idea/thought/craft is on Pinterest, and this is why the idea of a "Pinterest Wedding" began. A woman's wedding day is one of the biggest days, and certainly a day to celebrate and enjoy. Pinterest offers so many ideas that serve a variety of purposes. Is your ideal wedding flashy and elegant? Pinterest has tons of ideas and even products you can buy. Are you on a budget but still want a nice wedding? Pinterest has tons of easy DIY crafts that you can make yourself but still look professionally done. (Sounds perfect to me!) Planning a wedding can be stressful but Pinterest adds a sense of creativity and fun to that, what more could you ask for? Under the wedding category you can find center pieces, dress styles, decorations, wedding cakes, ideas for bridal party pictures, and anything else you need for a wedding.

Adding Pins

Pinterest is not for sharing your feelings or moments in your day but sharing things you care about, want to do, or things that look fun or interesting. Like mentioned earlier, you start by making certain boards. For example, maybe you have boards like "Recipes", "Cool Craft Ideas", "Wedding!", and "Home Decorations". Now you just search a keyword such as "dinner ideas" and bam, you have thousands of results. Scroll through (careful, chances are you'll spend much longer looking than intended!) and by simply clicking on a certain pin you can add it to your appropriate board. When you head to your own board you can find that pin and it will stay there unless you remove it for some reason.  Now next Tuesday when the kids or your boyfriend are complaining you always make the same food for dinner you can pull your new recipe up and amaze them!

The cool thing about Pinterest is that so many of the pins are uploaded by people who are not crazy creative and five-star chefs, but they're willing to share their tips and ideas with the world in hopes that others enjoy their recipes or crafts as much as they do. Which means you can share stuff too. Do you have a recipe that everyone in your family loves? Upload it is a pin. Share it with the world, let others make it and wow their families. Spread the joy! :) Uploading a pin is very simple. Simply click "Upload a Pin", add a picture, and a short description with any tips or guidelines. What begins your description is going to be the first thing people see since you can't name your pin unless you have a recognized Pinterest account (which usually means you're a company or expert on that topic.) So usually it's a good idea to make the first few words of your description what you would want the pin title to be, followed by the true description. So if you have a recipe a good place to start would simply be the name of the recipe, quick and easy! :) Now anyone who has a Pinterest account can pin whatever you uploaded, and that is social media at it's finest.

Creating Your Own Board

Creating your own boards on Pinterest is very important because this is where you can organize all the pins you like! Rather than having 100 different pins scattered on one board you can make several. For example, you might want a "Food" board, or a "Dessert" board. Now instead of having 50 recipes to sort through you might have 25 under "Dessert" and 25 under "Food". (Makes life a lot simpler!) Another good thing? Creating a board is very simple! Just click the "Create a Board" button, and fill out the following information. All's they ask is things like what you want to name your board, a description of what will be on the board, and if it fits into a larger category like "Food". It's as simple as that, now you can start pinning away!

Now that we've given you an introduction to Pinterest and explained a few features of the site you have no reason not to give it a shot! Really, what is there to lose? Pinterest offers so much to learn and do, so far we haven't found a bad thing about it. (Except for maybe how much it distracts us because we can't tear ourselves away!) And the best thing? If you don't like it, oh well. We'll still like you! But we're pretty sure you'll be able to find some stuff you like, and maybe even some stuff you love!