How Pinterest Helps Libraries Communicate, Connect, and Circulate

Objectives  What is Pinterest?  Why Pinterest?  Tutorial—How to use Pinterest  Pinterest for Libraries

What is Pinterest?  Social network based on common interests.  A visual collection of things you love.

What is Pinterest?  1 Pin = 1 image  Images gathered on themed “boards”—think bulletin or idea board.  Ex: Fashion, Pets, Crafts, Celebrities, Humor, Film, Sports, Books  Links to websites that contain images  Ex: An image of a book links to the author’s website.  Upload unique content  Re-pin images

What is Pinterest?  Idea attributed to Ben Silbermann  Co-founded by Silbermann, Evan Sharp (a former product designer at Facebook) and Paul Sciarra of Cold Brew Labs in Palo Alto, Calif  Established in December 2009 Pinterest for Libraries

Who uses Pinterest?  60-80% of the site's users are women ages  23 million + unique users  1.7 billion monthly pageviews  Third largest social network in the US (total visits in March, 2012):  1. Facebook: 7 billion  2. Twitter: 182 million  3. Pinterest: 104 million  4. LinkedIn: 86 million  5. Tagged: 72 million  6. Google+: 61 million ReadWriteWebReadWriteWeb, BusinessInsider, MashableBusinessInsiderMashable

Who uses the Library? ALA-state of public libraries

Interesting facts about Pinterest [adverblog infographic] Who uses Pinterest?

What are they doing?  Expressing themselves through pictures and images relevant to their lives  Reminding themselves of things they want to do, buy, or revisit  Learning about and exploring specific or random topics  Searching for and discovering new or specific things to do, buy, look at, or read. Mashable

Why Pinterest?  Visually appealing: share ideas easily  Current Social Media: Sites are becoming more visual over time.  Network with people with common interests.  Interest-based, not social-based

Why Pinterest?  Promote products: Drives referral traffic to different websites. A Marketer’s Guide to Pinterest (MDG Advertising)A Marketer’s Guide to Pinterest (MDG Advertising), The Pinterest ExperiementThe Pinterest Experiement

Getting Started Request an invite—Pinterest will respond within 24 hours.

Login with , Facebook, or Twitter Getting Started

If you are creating an account for the first time, it will look like this once you sign in with Facebook or Twitter. Getting Started

To connect you with people with similar interests, Pinterest will suggest topics of interest for you to follow. Getting Started

Then, it connects you with people who post about your interests. Getting Started

Choose a few topics to get started. These become boards. Add and delete boards whenever you want. Getting Started

 Optional—add the Pinterest Button to your browser toolbar.  If you want to pin something easily from another website, click “Pin It” while visiting that website.  Will automatically create a new pin so you can share your idea and credit the original creator.  Drag and drop the button onto your bookmarks bar The Pin It Button

Ex: Click “Pin it” when you see an image you would like to pin. It will recognize all the large images on the website. Choose the image you want to pin. Pinterest will automatically create a new pin so you can share your idea and credit the original creator. The Pin It Button

This is your Pinterest homepage. Using Pinterest

Application share

A Pin Example Option to subscribe to the individual who posted image. The pinned image. Click to access link. Liking pins adds to your favorites Repost the pin to your own board Caption Add a comment for others to read Option to subscribe to the board where the image is posted. Shows the board where the image is posted

Don’t forget… Pin videos Follow others and see who follows you Authors, publishers, libraries Share boards on Facebook and Twitter Link pins to the Catalog, GoodReads, or Amazon

Board Ideas  New materials  Books made into movies  Staff picks  Photos submitted by patrons  MediaMall links to items  Video tutorials  Places I Would Read  Library Programs  Archives highlights  Databases and research tips  Seasonal favorites Libraries using Pinterest  Fullerton Public Library (CA) Fullerton Public Library (CA)  Book Clubs, New items  Skokie Public Library (IL) Skokie Public Library (IL)  New York Public Library New York Public Library  Book news  Biblioteca UPM (Madrid) Biblioteca UPM (Madrid)  San Francisco Public Library San Francisco Public Library  History  Scholastic Scholastic  ICE Library ICE Library  Academic, architecture  Harris County Public Library (TX) Harris County Public Library (TX)  Awful Library Books Awful Library Books Library Uses

Pros Easy to use Draws referral traffic Space for creativity Tablet Commerce (simple) Important for Libraries to be relevant Educational Value Overlapping target audience Add a Pinterest stream, “Follow me” or “Pin it” button to your website

Cons Copyright issues The web is not permanent. Each time a page moves or dies, you have to reset the link Search feature could be more robust—text- based search for images Large, but narrow user base

Best Practices Avoid blatant self-promotion Give proper credit for borrowed images Use target keywords Start a conversation Be creative

Create account Use group or add people to shared boards. Identify objectives and create boards Assign willing staff members boards to maintain and instruct them in how to maintain boards Set goals for pinning each week Link to account from homepage Plan for Implementation & Sustainability

Show off your library!

The more you know…  Who Uses Pinterest? Who Uses Pinterest?  What Pinterest Is Doing That Facebook Isn't What Pinterest Is Doing That Facebook Isn't  Pinterest--The Next Social Commerce Gamer-Changer Pinterest--The Next Social Commerce Gamer-Changer  Great Ways Libraries Are Using Pinterest Great Ways Libraries Are Using Pinterest  Social Media Gets Interesting Social Media Gets Interesting  Pinterest Infographic for Marketers Pinterest Infographic for Marketers  Bibliography Bibliography