Fun on the Interwebs: Pinterest

As you might have pieced together by now, I'm kind of having a love affair with Pinterest.  It's such a genius concept:  you create virtual pinboards covering categories of interest (recipes, home decorating ideas, whatever), you install the "Pin It" tool on your toolbar, and as you find things that you like on the Internet - a great recipe, or a book that interests you, or the perfect lamp for your bedside table - you click on the "Pin It" icon and pin the item to the appropriate pinboard.  You can also save photos to your hard drive and then upload them to Pinterest, but benefit to using the "Pin It" tool is that it saves a link to where the item exists on the Internet.  Thus, if you are in the market for a rug for your den, and you see a rug that you like on the Pottery Barn Web site and pin it to a board, when you want to show that rug to your husband you just go to that board, click on that item, and SHAZAM - Pinterest takes you to that page on the Pottery Barn site.

Writing down URLs is a thing of the past.  As is creating pinboard with Paint and other programs.

A few tips:

1)  You have to be invited to join Pinterest - but don't consider this an obstacle.  Notwithstanding the fact that I will totally invite you if you ask, I think that there's also a button to click to request an invite.

2)  The site tells you that Pinterest is more compatible with Firefox than Microsoft Explorer.  This is true.  Sort of.  The "Pin It" feature definitely works better when I am using Firefox.  However, for some inexplicable reason, when I try to create a new board in Firefox, I cannot do so:  there is an "Add a Board" menu option, but it's not a live link.  It just sits there, un-highlightable and aloof, and mocks me.  Thus, if I am browsing in Firefox and see an item that merits a new board, I have to open Explorer, then open Pinterest, then create a new board, and then go back to Firefox.  Kind of annoying.  But not enough to stop me from pinning.

3)  Occasionally, I will experience delays between when I create a board and when it shows up on my drop-down menu of board I maintain.  Not sure if this is due to my Firefox/Explorer issues or not.  I do think that Pinterest's popularity has outstripped its server capacity, because at peak times (early evenings, mostly) when I try to pin something I will often get a "we're at capacity, try back soon" message.

Give Pinterest a try.  I'm still experimenting with the site myself - like, I know that a big part of the appeal of the site is that you can search other people's pinboards and repin their finds to your board.  However, I haven't had time to play with that feature, because I'm too busy pinning stuff directly from the Internet.  And creating new boards.  Lots and lots of new boards.  Wondering if there is a limit on how many boards you can maintain?

If there is a limit, I predict that I will get there - at the rate that I am going, by some time next week.