The only time I seem to interact with Pinterest is when I’m searching for images of something on my phone, let’s say “pictures of mountains”. I want to get the image in full res so I go to the site, then I can’t copy it or download it.
From these brief interactions and exploring the site I just don’t see the appeal. Pinterest just seems like a terrible image search engine with the ‘feature?’ that every few scrolls pulls up similar-ish categories to the image search you did(Mausoleum might bring up Pharaohs for example). It could be that I’ve just never taken the time to use it properly, so I thought I would ask people: what is Pinterest good for / why does it exist.
Hopefully is not too harsh I am high atm.
I use it for art insoiration and reference. Also recently inspiration for a new haircut
It seems, at least to me, that the Pinterest results have less AI generated imagery than, let’s say, Google Images. I mean, of course there are AI images on Pinterest, but not so much as Google.
It’s a social network version of browser bookmarks.
The only time I encounter it is when doing image searches for normal things and it seems to exist to make it maximally annoying to search for and download images. If I ever end up on Pinterest it’s just a guaranteed headache.
I fucking hate it. It’s unintuitive, it’s clunky, it doesn’t do a good job at what it claims it does, and it makes locating the original images harder unless you log in.
It’s the web version of a vision board where you cut out images and put them on a board. But it links to the source as well.
I like using it to find recipes for stuff but that’s all I use it for tbh. And also just kind of organizing “aesthetics” that I’m going for when working on projects like dnd campaigns and such.
I use it A LOT for work. Basically looking for real life images of the lighting application that I’m designing for to convey the intent to the client in a visual way.
I might also use it for art inspiration but not often.
It kind of reminds me of a visual bookmark manager.
Some people will use it to gather recipes. They might even group some, like “Thanksgiving dinner ideas” or “new diet.” When you do this, you can even get a little thumbnail that will make it easier to find later.
It’s not limited to recipes. You can link a lot of stuff, like maybe tutorials on how to build a shelving unit. You could put it in a group called “organizing my garage,” along with other stuff you want to do.
You might not even necessarily use it for links, maybe you have an idea for a costume or a picture you want to draw. You can find picture inspiration. Once you find a picture, it can suggest more you might like.
One can of course achieve this type of thing without Pinterest (I do just fine with my own system) but Pinterest does make it very convenient, especially for people that aren’t as tech savvy.
I use it for ideas and references. Back when I drew, it was a great source for models. Also nice for projects. They have a plethora of patterns for crafting, not to mention just straight inspiration if you’re looking to design pretty much anything. I don’t use it to just look at pictures, I go to it looking for something specific.
I use it to gather recipes, workout routines, pictures of cats, and cool artwork. I also have a “board” full of pictures of stuff from my childhood that I look at if I’m wanting some nostalgia.
It exists to fuck up search results.
Kagi lists the top domains that Kagi users have blocked results from.
https://kagi.com/stats?stat=leaderboard
The top 7 blocked domains are all Pinterest domains.
That’s a pretty damning vote, I’d say.
Interesting, thank you for sharing
Very interesting!
That’s… Amazing. What a worthless site.
My experience with Pinterest is:
- Search for some recipes and you click a link to Pinterest it takes you to a meta page with a lot of pictures but no recipe.
- While image searching you find a nice picture click on the link to Pinterest and it’s gone, just use the cached image instead.
Looks like Pinterest is the reason for all these dying pixels.
They took an existing real-world idea, made it a website, and then tried to microsoft it by locking people in, refusing to let others play without paying, and generally making every interaction suck. It’s been quite a ride from “hey that’s interesting” to “oh god - them again”. I think the thrill lasted maybe the first six months they existed.
I forgot it existed because some lovely person made an extension to block it ☺️
Whoever does their SEO is a genius but should also have been drowned at birth
Would you be so kind to share more about that extension please?
The one I use is called “Unpinterested!”, and is on both the Firefox and chrome extension stores. You can also use uBlacklist to block the domains.
Sweet, I see in the comments many others have an extension for this. Crazy I didn’t even think about it as an option!
There’s also one called “Personal blocklist” which is very handy.
I actually find it invaluable. I am constantly designing new products so I need a lot of inspiration. Google image search is too focused and I need broad strokes to start. I can type in a few keywords in Pinterest, find one image I like and click on it, then get a large amount of similar designs. I’ve used it for lots of stuff from a variety of unique knurling options on dials to flower knolling layouts for ad shoots. It’s a better image search for my purposes.
When looking for something to paint it’s a good tool too.
