“Pinterest”, a combination of the words “pin” and “interest” is a title that perfectly sums up the goal of this social idea site. Pinterest is a place where users can “pin” their interests and ideas however, since the sites launch in 2010, it has truly become so much more than that.
When being asked if Pinterest is a Social Network at the
Fortune Brainstorm Tech 2015 event in Aspen, Colorado, Pinterest CEO Ben Silbermann summarized the company as simply a "catalog of ideas,”. Despite this, Pinterest is a website that is still often seen or classified as a form of social media, as a way to connect and relate. However, rather than encourage users to post whats happening now or what is about to happen (like Facebook or Snapchat) users are encouraged to pull ideas and images from the past or other boards to remix and construct their own. Boards are created for any kind of topic or theme imaginable and can be public, shared only with friends or completely private to the user. This notion of privacy faintly conjures up themes of the ancient archives being sacred and often kept secret.
What’s interesting about what I know from being a Pinterest user and from other users I spoke with, is that after a board or a pin is created, rarely do users go back and access, reference or act on the items they have pinned. Once items have been pulled from this vast array of options and ideas to pin from they are filed away in the users profile and rarely accessed again (although I am sure there are exceptions).
This everyday archive blurs the line between the everyday and the archive because it is easy, quick and accessible yet we are creating captures of who we are at any given time that will remain. Someone can go back to a Pinterest space years later and see what they were interested in or felt was special enough to be pinned to their board in say 2011 or possibly surrounding a certain significant life event such as a wedding.
We see Pinterest today as a modern and frequently used space but rarely do we think of its longevity and historical significance. Imagine if in thirty or fifty or even a hundred years society could go back and see the “Pinterest” board of the President, the Queen, a disease curing scientist or even their own grandmother. How much could future generations learn about the personal creations and preferences from those in the past and would this in turn change how future “pinners" decide what to pin to their boards?
Pinterest is often associated with a specific demographic or gender and is also linked most commonly with specific topics such as fashion, recipes and weddings. However, I feel that its concept and infrastructure has the power to be so much more if only it can be preserved, sustained and can grow to be far more reaching.
Often the clothing items we pin we will never wear, the recipes we will never make and the images of far of destinations are ones we dream of seeing but will never visit. There is something about the process of selecting them and identifying with these images that makes the user feel complete and whole. It is a reflection of themselves in ways they might otherwise be unable to manifest and in ways that are so very personal. These likes and ideas and desires unlock deeper meaning into the preservation of not the only the physical or the tangible but of the emotional. We as user can create and pinpoint what is important to us at this very moment.
The fact however is that Pinterest is a piece of technology and that notion limits the capacity and the longevity of the archive. If the company or the “keepers” of this archive should ever dissolve so will all of its contents.
Pinterest is a modern everyday archive that allows users to remix, curate, preserve and organize documentation of ideas and events in their very own personal archive. The question remains…
what can we do now to preserve modern digital everyday archives like Pinterest that could potentially give us insight into the personal ideas and emotions of individuals in decades to come?
Do you have a Pinterest? If so what do you "pin" to your board? Try looking back at your pins of boards from months or even years ago? What do these images represent or conjure up for you?
