Just Pin Genealogy

• Don’t you wish sometimes that you could lay out your photos and documents – both paper and digital – in such a way that you could see the whole story, or perhaps a portion of the story?
• Don’t you think it’d be nice to take this layout and show it to a family member because you just know the photos and documents would really interest them because they are more visual? They’d like to “see” the story, not read it.
• Maybe if you had a bulletin board and you laid everything out on it, you could make sense of your research problem, or maybe a pattern would emerge.
• Maybe an older family member would like to just sit and reminisce with that pictorial family story bulletin board.
• Maybe a younger family member would like to sit in wonder and amazement at their family history pictures on the bulletin board.
• Wouldn’t it be kind of cool to have a bulletin board with images of unique genealogy-related gifts  and crafts that you have found?
• Wouldn’t it be handy to show reluctant family members some of your blog posts using the related photos from them with only a few words to describe them with links back to the story? You know. Just in case they want to read the whole story?
• What if there was a way to share your love of genealogy and the idea of family history in a non-pushy way with others who have similar interests?
• Wouldn’t it be amazing to chronicle the places a family has lived with photos on a bulletin board?
• Wouldn’t it be so very organized to layout in pictures all the places your ancestors lived and where you’d like to visit someday?
• Wouldn’t be cool to find a distant relative through photo-sharing? [Don’t look at me like that. It could happen.]

Well, rest easy. You can do all of these things and more. In fact, only your imagination is the limit. A site called Pinterest can help you do all of these things. What is Pinterest? It describes itself as:

"Pinterest is a virtual pinboard. Pinterest allows you to organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. You can browse pinboards created by other people to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests.

People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and share their favorite recipes."

Basically, Pinterest is a place to create bulletin boards of photos of things you like that you find on the internet as well as from photos you take and upload. And you share your boards with others and they share theirs with you. People are able to look at what you pin on your boards, they can 'like' your pins, repin them to their boards, and/or comment on them. And you can do the same with their pins on their boards.

But that’s not all.  I’ve managed to use it for genealogy and family history. [Surprise. Surprise.]

The result? Bulletin boards that look like digital magazines. Seriously. Have family members that don’t like to read about their history on your blog? No problem. Pin photos from your blogs on a board. They can take a look at these photos, and they’ll be hooked [at least for a little while] on their family history. It takes minimal time to create these boards, but the results are phenomenal and make you look like a rock star. Perfect.

Found a really awesome craft to make heritage Christmas ornaments with an image of it on a site? No problem. Pin it onto a board of yours and share it with, well, the world [at least the Pinterest World.] Get your family signed up to Pinterest and share your family’s stories through photos, make heritage holiday crafts and gifts together, and so much more.

And? You know what’s so silly? I’m trying to describe a photo-based site with words. Here’s what I’ve come up with so far in 4 days. On one of my boards, I have pinned images from my Family Stories blog. On another, I've pinned images that I found when looking at all the places my Vaughan family line has lived. In fact, in looking for images of these places online, I found more information about my family. [Hello!?!] Be careful, though. It’s addictive with just one look. Seriously. [You’ve been warned.] Here all the boards I’ve created so far [some genealogy-related & some not cuz that’s how I roll]:

Family Stories on Pinterest  [ http://pinterest.com/familystories/]

Pretty cool, huh?

Some things to keep in mind about Pinterest:

• With every image you pin, the site creates a source link from where you got it so someone else can go look at where you got it from. [Just cite it.]
• You can be the only one to pin images on one of your boards OR you can allow multiple people to pin. That’s right. Family members can work together on a board.  [Just collaborate.]
• Pinterest frowns upon selling your own stuff on here. [Just don’t do that.]
• There should be an app for that. Oh but there *is* an iPhone app. Here’s a screenshot of my boards on my iPhone [Just look at it.]:
  

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• Don’t have an iPhone? Their site is mobile ready.  A screenshot of what a pinned item looks like on my iPhone (not using the app) is located at the beginning of this blog post.
  
• You need an invite to join. They can give you one or I can. Just let me know by contacting me. [Just do it.]
  

So. What do you think? Is this something you could/would use for sharing your family history? [Or just for fun?] Other than what I suggested, how else could you use this for family history?

~Caroline