Create an online scrapbook with Pinterest

There are countless social networks to choose from, from Facebook for family and friends to Linked In for professional connections.

But relative newcomer Pinterest is a little different. It is essentially an online scrapbook that can be used to bookmark pages, images and other things that inspire you. Like other social networks, Pinterest also enables you to share the content you love with your contacts – all in a couple of clicks. Here’s what to do.

Step 1
Pinterest can be browsed by anyone but to make your own pages you will have to sign up for an account. You will need a Twitter or Facebook account in order to log in to the service. Start by launching a web browser and visiting Pinterest. Currently the service is being rolled out around the world and is not available to everyone. As such, you will see one of two sign-up screens - one with a ‘Request an Invite’ button and the other with one labelled ‘Join Pinterest’. Click the relevant button, tap your email address into the empty box and select the Request Invitation or Join Pinterest button. If you clicked the latter, skip to Step 4. 
 

Step 2
Although the wording of the sign-up process makes Pinterest sound like an exclusive service, you should find that an email arrives in your inbox in a fairly short space of time. You will get confirmation that your request has been received straight away and formal invitations typically arrive a few days after that. While you wait for your invitation to arrive, you can click the ‘check out some pins’ link in the confirmation email to start browsing through the site to see what it has to offer. 
 

Step 3
When the invitation email arrives, click the first link it contains to continue with the sign-up process. You will need to have either a Facebook or Twitter account in order to sign up, as this helps the site to reduce the number of fake accounts that are created. We will be using the Facebook method, so click the ‘Sign Up with Facebook’ button and then enter your Facebook email address and password when prompted to do so. Click the Log in button and then click Go to App.