In places where large masses of people congregate, fads are common and come as quickly as they go. In high schools especially, fads circulate among the students and build in both enthusiasm and followers at a rapid pace. The website Pinterest, however, has hit Orono High School students hard and continues to captivate students’ attention and dominate their computer screens.

“I was spending so much time on Pinterest, that I had to cut myself off and restrain myself from going on it so much,” said senior Courtney Cahow.

Pinterest emulates a social media site with a unique twist; rather than posting a status similar to Facebook, or ‘tweet’ an update on Twitter, it allows its users to ‘pin’ collections of miscellaneous photos to a board. The concept is rather difficult to grasp. Here is a brief overview of the Pinterest terms:

Pin: A pin is an image added to the Pinterest website.
Repin: Once an image is pinned, it can be repined by other Pinterest users. If you see and like something that has been pinned by your friends, you would repin it to add it to one of your boards.
Board: A board is a collage of photos pertaining to a specific category. The boards provide Pinterest users a way to save, share and discover endless possibilities.

“Bucket List, Beauty, Inspirational and Home Decor are just some of the boards I have. I have about eight,” said senior Rachel Nyquist. “I like looking at artsy pictures and getting ideas from them,” said Nyquist.

Pinterest’s mission statement is to connect everyone in the world through things they find interesting. But lately, the interest in Pinterest is becoming an all-out obsession, and it has claimed a spot in the Web’s Top 10 social networks.

“Pinterest is so addicting because of the variety it provides,” said senior Kelly Wiens. “I can find anything on it. From cute fashion ideas to awesome dorm room ideas, Pinterest has it all.”

And indeed it does. Pinterest was first brought to my attention by a friend who had completely been sucked in by its appeal. I had briefly heard mentions of the website before, but it had never warranted my attention or time. Of course, as I saw more of my friends get hooked, and I continued to hear about all the fabulous things you could do on Pinterest, I had to investigate what made it so special.

There are three aspects about Pinterest that immediately jumped out at me; it’s fun, different and provides people with a way to chart their ambitions and aspirations. It is an entertaining website that is uniquely interactive. Rather than sharing our private lives like on other social media sites, Pinterest merely shows people what has caught our interest and cool things we have discovered on the website.

“I’ve known about Pinterest for a year and a half. My mom had been using it for a long time and told me about it,” said senior Rachel Micoley. “But Pinterest is so appealing because you find a lot of really cool things on it. I have boards for crafts, clothes, food, random things, design, style, animals, hair, architecture and so on. I have about 14 boards in all,” said Micoley.

The interest in Pinterest is spreading, pulling in teenagers and adults alike. Perhaps this fad will fizzle out, as so many of them do, or maybe this obsession will continue to thrive and expand. Either way, Pinterest is definitely something to check out. But be cautious; once you start, it’s impossible to stop pinning.

Taylor Werdel is the Editorial Editor for The Spartan Speaks