If you decide to sign up with your Facebook Login, click on the Facebook button, and then enter your Facebook login and password to connect to Pinterest. If you are already logged into Facebook, you will be taken directly to your Pinterest home page. When you login with Facebook, you have the option to allow Pinterest to post your activity to your Facebook Timeline. To log into Pinterest with Facebook, you must be using Facebook’s Timeline format.



Signing into Pinterest with your Twitter account works the same way. Wonder how to use Pinterest with Twitter? If you sign in with Twitter, then Pinterest can:

Perhaps you aren’t sure if you want to connect your Facebook and/or Twitter accounts to Pinterest yet. No problem. Sign up using your email address instead. You can always connect Pinterest to Facebook and Twitter later in Account Settings.

If you opt to sign up with your email address, you will need to give Pinterest a few pieces of information. To create your account, you must provide:

Then click on the “Create Account” button, and you are good to go!



Pinterest is not just for people. Businesses stand to benefit from promoting products on Pinterest. You can join Pinterest as a business or convert your existing personal account to a Pinterest Business Account at business.pinterest.com. Many businesses are using Pinterest to increase sales and interest in their brand and products. You can read a few case studies showing exactly how some businesses are capitalizing on the Pinterest craze. Then use what you have learned and grow your own business!

2.5 The Pin-It Button (Bookmarklet)

After you have created your Pinterest account, the first thing you should do is install the Pin-It button (or “bookmarklet”) to your browser’s bookmarks bar.

Pinterest explains, “Once installed in your browser, the ‘Pin It’ button lets you grab an image from any website and add it to one of your Pinboards. When you pin from a website, we automatically grab the source link so we can credit the original creator.”

Get the “Pin It” button by hovering on the down arrow next to the About link in the Pinterest toolbar ribbon and clicking on “Pin It Button,” or by visiting http://about.pinterest.com/goodies/.

Be sure your browser’s bookmark bar is displayed, and then drag the Pin It button to your bookmarks bar. Now when you are browsing the Internet, you can click the Pin It button in your bookmarks bar to pin an image. Every pin added using the Pin It bookmarklet links back to the website it came from.

Let’s try it out! Visit any website you like that includes at least one image and then click on the Pin It button you just added to your browser’s bookmarks bar. When you click the Pin It button, your browser will display thumbnails of all the images on the page. Click on the image you want to pin. A popup window appears where you can choose which of your boards you want to pin the image to. You can (and should) enter a description of the image. If the image you are pinning is of a product for sale, include the price in your description. Pins that include price information will be indexed in the Gifts section of Pinterest.com where you can browse gifts in different price ranges.

Once you have picked a board and entered a description, simply click the “Pin It” button, and you’re done! You now have options to See Your Pin and Tweet your Pin. You may close this window if you like, or, depending on which browser you are using, the window may close on its own.

3. The Language of Pinterest

The jargon of Pinterest is fairly straightforward. You “pin” images (or video) to a “board.” Images can be pinned from the web or uploaded by the user. People or businesses that pin images are called “Pinners.”

3.1 Pin/Repin

When you see something you like on the Pinterest website or mobile app and click on the “Repin” button, you are “pinning” that image to one of your own “boards.” When you “Repin,” the following information will be included with your pin:

A link to the profile of the Pinterest user whose image you repinned

A link to the board they pinned it to

Links to the Original pinner and the board that user pinned it to

3.2 Board

Pinterest sets you up with a few default Boards to get you started. These include:

Products I Love

Favorite Places & Spaces

Books Worth Reading

My Style

For the Home

You can keep these default boards, rename them, or you can create completely new boards. We will learn more about how to use Pinterest to organize your boards and create Secret Boards in Chapter 6.

3.3 Following

“Following” other Pinterest users is a great way to discover new content. Your Pinterest Home page displays pins from people and businesses you follow. If Pinterest has suggestions of people for you to follow, they will be listed on the left side of your Pinterest home page. To follow a Pinterest user, click on the Follow button next to their name, or click on their name to reach their profile page. From any Pinterest user’s profile page, you can opt to Follow All or follow specific boards created by that user.

Check out: 10 Users You Should Follow on Pinterest Geek it Out On Pinterest: 10 Users You Should Follow Geek it Out On Pinterest: 10 Users You Should Follow It's no secret we're big fans of Pinterest here at MakeUseOf. The virtual pinning board of the Internet has helped us while away many an hour, getting lost in the many photos, ideas and posts... Read More

3.4 Like

“Liking” a Pin allows you to save that Pin without pinning it to one of your own boards. You can see everything you have “Liked” on Pinterest on the Likes tab of your profile page. Many people I’ve talked to say they never use the Like feature. If they like a pin, they always repin it to one of their own boards. Alternatively, many people use the Like feature to keep track of pins for which they do not yet have a dedicated board. You can always view the Pins you have Liked and pin them to a board later.

“I ‘like’ pins that I think are very good but are not good enough to repin, or are not something that I would want to directly associate myself with.” – Mischa Fierer, Pinterest user [via quora.com]

“…I use ‘like’ [when] I see something that would make a great gift for someone who follows me on Pinterest. Likes are a great way of keeping track of said items without alerting said follower to its existence. It’s especially handy during the holiday season.” – Kat Li [via quora.com] *Note: Pinterest users who “follow” you can view your Likes, so this might not work if your followers visit the Likes tab on your profile page.

4. Pinterest Home page

Okay, it’s showtime. Your Pinterest home page shows recent pins from all the Pinners and boards you are following.

4.1 Following

On the left side of your Pinterest home page, you may see a list of Friends to Follow (if Pinterest has any suggestions, depending on if you have connected your Facebook or Twitter accounts).



Following someone on Pinterest is just like following someone on Twitter or being friends with someone on Facebook. You will be able to see their pins, boards (except Secret Boards – more on that later), comments and likes. Click the Follow button next to a user’s name to follow everything they pin to boards they have created. If you only want to follow specific boards, click on the person’s name and then choose which of their boards you want to follow.

Remember, you do not have to know someone personally to follow them on Pinterest. Branch out!

You can also invite friends to use Pinterest or search for friends who are already Pinterest users. Click on the arrow to the right of your photo and name in the Pinterest toolbar ribbon and choose Invite Friends or Find Friends. You can either enter individual email addresses of people you would like to invite, or you can connect your Facebook, Gmail, or Yahoo! accounts. If you choose to connect an external account, Pinterest will display a list of your contacts from that account, and you can pick which of those people you want to invite to Pinterest.

4.1.1 Recent Activity

Your Pinterest home page displays a list of “Recent Activity” on the left side of the page. Here you can see notifications like:

When someone repins one of your pins

When someone likes one of your pins

When someone starts following you or one of your boards

4.1.2 Pins

There is a reason your Pinterest home page displays pins from people you are following. By following someone (or someone’s board), you are saying that you are interested in that kind of content. Your home page, therefore, should be filled with pins you will like.