Crafts, pictures, fashion, hairstyle, quotes and many more things can be found on bulletin boards. Now, imagine a gigantic bulletin board with items pinned by people from all over the world. Impossible. Right? Not anymore, Pinterest is a virtual pin board that has ideas for practically anything imaginable.

Founded by Ben Silbermann, Paul Sciarra, and Evan Sharp, Pinterest was launched in March of 2010. Rapidly, this site has gained increased popularity. According to techcrunch.com, Pinterest crossed the 10 million mark for unique viewers faster than any other standalone site in history.

In addition, this site is nearly as addictive as Facebook. According to comScore, the average Pinterest user spends 98 minutes per month on the site, compared to 2.5 hours on Tumblr, and seven hours on Facebook.“This sight is so interesting,” stated junior Samantha Lanning, “I can waste whole days just looking at new things.” Lanning continued.

This intriguing data prompts the question “What makes Pinterest so popular?” Pinterest is set up as a “virtual pin board,” which allows users to pin (or post) things, re-pin, and like other users’ pins. Pins can be posted under a plethora of categories; anything from motorcycles to weddings.

For examle, there are ideas such as how to make a folding chair into a dressy seat for a wedding out of fabric and some ribbon. Also, there is almost and endless suppply of homemade gifts to make. Or, even ideas for hairstyles to wear for a dance.

“Some of these ideas I could never think up by myself,” stated junior Myia Wasak. “I love how Pinterest can make me look creative, smart, and organized.” The site has almost an endless supply of crafts, recipes, workouts, or just ideas in general all available for the general public. “After I pin something or try out someone else’s pin I feel like Martha Stewart,” Wasak said while showing off some of the things the she had pinned on the site, like her favorite types of hairstyles.

 Pinterest is run like Facebook, all one needs to do is sign up. “It was really easy,” Wasak stated, “the simple sign up give people no excuse for not having a Pinterest.”

One downfall of the site is that it caters more towards the female end of interests than male. Or as junior Maddy Hoeft exclaimed, “It’s the best thing for girls since the invention of the hair-straightener.”

This is not to say that men will not be interested in the sight, but its outward appearance and reputation do not exactly draw in a large number of men. “Pinterest has something for everyone if they make the effort to look for it,” Wasak stated explaining how Pinterest is not just a ‘girl-thing’.

All in all, pinterest is an informitive and helpful website that has rightfully gained popularity through the benificial ideas it proviedes to all audiences.