I really like the brainstorming tool that you mention. I hadn’t thought of that, but that’s a great use for Pinterest. Also interesting that the social element of Pinterest isn’t important to you (beyond sharing boards with specific people for brainstorming). I agree that it’s a good bookmarking site, but as of yet it hasn’t eclipsed Evernote, Trello, and Backpack for me.

I know very little about shopping through Pinterest, but the idea of visually shopping for decor is brilliant.

Also, if anyone ever plans to hold an event or party, following Christine’s events board is an absolute must. I plan on sniping many of these ideas for my next fundraising event. http://pinterest.com/cbielke/events/

I see Pinterest as a way of visually bookmarking sites. Since I’m a designer by trade as well as an avid cook and baker, Pinterest offers A LOT of pluses. I think it can be quite a game changer if the wide variety of uses it offers really start to catch on. Here are the best uses I’ve found for Pinterest:

Online Recipe File—All your recipes in one place, accessible with one click and organized by photo kept in one place and easy to access from my phone = a working woman’s recipe heaven.

Visual Inspiration Database—I’ve used it countless times when I’m stuck on a design problem. I keep boards for typography design, info graphic design and illustrators that I like so they’re easy to access if I want to hire them for a future project.

Brainstorming Tool: Multiple people can pin to a board if you invite them. They can comment, like and tag others. It allows for of collaboration around visual ideas in a simple way where it all stays in one place. It’s also easy to share with people outside the pin board. We might drive a client to our brainstorming board, or we’ve shared a collaborative interior design idea board with our interior designer so she sees what we want.

Shopping Tool: Price snipe makes for easy price comparisons and the click through allows for quick and easy purchasing. If you shop online and especially if you’re shopping for something based mostly on look and price (like a couch), it’s fantastic.

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Honestly, I see Pinterest’s social media aspect as secondary. It’s like a visual Delicious for me. I don’t really care who’s repinning or following me (or if I’m pinning a bunch at once and clogging your feed). The bookmarks are there for others to see, but mostly for me to keep and organize. At the same time, every day, Pinterest’s searchable database is getting larger and larger, which is really useful when you’re looking for something specific.

I’m starting to see retailers and businesses starting Pinterest accounts, so it’ll be interesting to see where that leads.

I just realise I can pin you. I’m going to do that when I get home.

Also, it really doesn’t take much time at all to pin a few things and skim through a few pins now and then. If you really want to save time, you could just look at my boards on occasion.

I ask this because I worry that if I were to start using Pintrest, it’d become just another time suck that was amusing but not that useful (and I already have to be selective with how many of those types of activities I have in my life).