Pinterest is an online corkboard for organizing your life. Why should libraries care? Pinterest can be
a really powerful way of connecting with your customers. Pinterest can show
your library’s personality, vision, and mission like no other social media
tool. Example: If you go to my personal facebook page or follow me on Twitter,
you actually won’t learn that much about me. If you go to my Pinterest page,
however, you will learn enough about me that you could buy me the perfect
birthday present.

I use Pinterest for collection, organization, and
inspiration. I live in a small apartment, so having a place online where I can
collect beautiful pieces of art is fantastic. I organize my favorite things
into categories, devoting a whole board to squirrels, for instance. I get
inspired by searching for or following boards that describe library programs
for kids. You can do all of this and more with and for your library. Here is a
link for 20 ways
libraries are using pinterest right now. (Notice that I gave you the link
to a pin, and you click on the pin to get to the original site for the article.
If you had a Pinterest account, you could repin the pin, like the pin, or
comment on the pin. All great ways to interact with other people (library
customers) on Pinterest.)

Pinterest does have some competition. There is dudepins (“Dudes
like sharing stuff”), so men can feel more manly pinning items
(apparently); there is indulgy, which focuses
on the collection and visual aspects of this type of social media tool (“Indulgy is a place where one can visualize
his perfect world”); and there is learnist,
a Pinterest-type site for educators (“Share
what you know”). Look around and think about creating a Pinterest account
for your library. It is a way for your library customers to know your library better. More
importantly, you can get to know your customers better.