The wealth of information that the Internet provides often goes unappreciated without the means to properly organize it all. Luckily, the website Pinterest.com provides a fun and new way to organize members’ favorite things online.

Pinterest allows its members to pin pictures and create pin boards of their choice. The site is designed so that the home page is one giant pin board of different pictures. When a user likes a picture, or pin, he or she can “repin” it to one of his or her own pin boards based on a common category of interest.

“Generally, you take pictures of things—from the Internet or photos you already have—that you like or that inspire you and group them into pin boards,” senior Michelle Pargament said. “For example, I have one called ‘Things I Love,’ which has products like cute shoes.”

The site provides an easy way to organize even the most abstract topics, and exposes its members to new products and ideas.

“I would have to say that my favorite thing is being able to find cool stuff that no one else has,” senior Naomi Gutkind said. “When looking for bathing suits for spring break, my graduation dress and just random shirts that I like, I go on and search key words and I can find really cool things on unknown sites. It’s cool how most of the [pins] on there link to the original site, so you can discover them on Pinterest and then buy them on the real site.”

Although the activity of its members drives the success of the site, Pinterest is not a true social networking device. In fact, besides sharing common pins, there is little direct interaction among members.

According to Gutkind, social networking sites are about meeting people, whereas Pinterest resembles more individualistic sites like StumbleUpon, inspiring its members with ideas.

That being said, Pinterest has yet to create a following for itself at CHS, which limits the school’s current members from taking advantage of the smaller, social aspect of the site.

Gutkind learned about Pinterest from her older sister who attends Tufts, and who urged her to become a member.

“At first I didn’t like it, and no one I knew used it, but it’s honestly so addicting and now people are starting to use it,” Gutkind said.

Pinterest’s consuming nature suggests that the site will continue to be a success.

“I’ve gotten e-mails saying people from school have subscribed to my pin boards,” Pargament said. “I even got an e-mail saying a friend from Arizona subscribed, so I think the site is actually catching on all over.”