Review of Pinterest

Review of Pinterest as a social media tool for libraries

PINTEREST
What do I want to use this social media platform for?	Recommend items for customers (books, DVDs, electronic resources) and link to the library catalogue record for the item. Collect information resources on popular topics of interest for our users. Collect and share ideas with other libraries through our boards.
What features are available (i.e. photos, videos, animations, hashtags, etc.)?	Can create boards to pin content to, re-pin items from Pinterest or pin new items from the web. Items can be almost anything with a URL – videos, articles, images, etc. Annotations can be added to the pins. Private messages can be sent to other users.
Any there any tools to help me use this social media platform?	Yes – Pinterest has a help centre and there is lots of information about how to use Pinterest, for both normal users and business users. There is a bookmarklet that you can add to your browser’s bookmark bar to quickly Pin the page you’re viewing.
Can it be accessed on mobile devices? Is there an app for it?	Yes, it can be accessed on mobile devices by using web browsers or the dedicated Pinterest app.
Is the site fairly easy to use?	Pinterest is not particularly difficult to use, but it can be hard to find what you are searching for. Following a Pinner or some of their boards is easy, as is liking or re-pinning an item. The bookmarklet that can be added to your browser makes it easy to pin new items when not on Pinterest.
Is the privacy and/or security of the site adequate?	All accounts are public. Pinners can choose to create public boards or private boards. Private boards are, by default, only visible to the creator, but viewing permission can be granted to other Pinners.
Are there any particular limitations associated with this social media platform?	Image heavy, bandwidth hungry. Can take a lot of time to build boards as each item would need to be found, evaluated, and then pinned to a board. Cannot upload material directly to Pinterest, and cannot post text. Can however pin images if uploaded to a different platform or website first.
Can I use my own branding (customization)?	No – can only upload a small icon to use as a profile icon.
Are other libraries using this social media platform?	Yes, but not to the degree of Twitter and Facebook.
Is there a particular demographic that uses this social media platform?	There are significantly more women on Pinterest than men. The main age group is 25-45.
Would this stand as our only social media tool?	No – it does not support text posts and is not an appropriate platform to post service updates or share information about events and programs.
Recommendation	Pinterest has a reputation more for recreation/entertainment than news and information. Most users would turn to it for ideas rather than updates. It is not a popular platform, and if the library chose to have one it would need to make sure to make its users aware of the Pinterest account so that it wouldn’t go undiscovered. It is quite a time intensive social media to use and can take a while to curate a meaningful, high quality collection of resources.