The Social Life: Site will suck your time

Pinterest is an addictive site.

If you thought Facebook, Twitter and YouTube suck your time, don't go anywhere near Pinterest. This has to be the ultimate time-consumer in social media.

"I'll just be five minutes, I'm only on Pinterest".

Two hours later and you're still there, pinning ideas that you will never get around to doing as you're finding more cool stuff. Trust me. I've been there.

Okay, maybe not two hours but you catch my drift.

Whether you're planning your wedding, redecorating your house or training for the 50th Rotorua Marathon there is something for you, and much more. It's the ultimate in ideas.

Back in the day I would gather together magazines, we'd talk about weddings, and cut out dresses I liked, ideas for photos, suggestions for rings etc. Then I would stick them into a scrapbook.

Pinterest is your virtual scrapbook, or pin board if you have one.

You simply search for what you're after - wedding dresses for example, and as you find pictures you like you can pin to your board to refer to later. Each pinned item will take you back to the website where it originated.

The social aspect is you can follow boards, whether they belong to your friends or not - kind of like Twitter. Just as you have a newsfeed on Facebook and Twitter you have a feed on Pinterest with the newest pins of those you follow appearing on your screen.

You get notification when your pins are re-pinned and as with other social media there is a business aspect to it. Brooks Running, for example, has a board of motivational quotes to get its followers out exercising, as well as boards of its products.

Another function is secret boards - visible only to you. So if you're planning a surprise weekend away for your beloved, or a surprise birthday party, or you simply want to keep a project secret, you can still get the most of Pinterest.

So if you are inspired by The Block and want redecoration ideas, or planning a wedding, birthday or holiday, or if you love craft and want some inspiration, in fact whatever you are up to, head on over to Pinterest and get pinning.

Just try not to spend all your time pinning.