Compers- it's time to show an interest in Pinterest!

What is Pinterest?
The best way I can think of to describe it is "a visual bookmarking system". You can "pin" pictures from websites or from other people onto your "boards" which you can divide into categories of your choice. Then when you go back to the board to look at your pins, you can use the picture to find your way back to the place you originally pinned it from, to see if there is anything new to interest you there.
Just like other social media sites, you can make friends with people,  like things, comments on them and, by repinning them,  share them with your friends.

How do I sign up and get started?
Register at www.pinterest.com   - it can take a few days for your application to be accepted. Once you are signed up, do feel free to follow me if you would like to.
When  you have your account, you will find several boards already provided for you. You can start pinning things to them straight away, or if you feel some of the boards on offer  are not for you,click "edit board" at the bottom of the board and either change the name to something you prefer or use the delete button to remove it completely - you can always add new boards whenever you need them.
If you are planning to enter competitions using Pinterest, you will find it handy to add a "Pin it" button to your toolbar. You can find out how to do this using the option in the "About" menu at the top ofthe page. Pinterest will recognise which browser you are using and give you instructions specific to it, along with a helpful video showing how it is done.

If you would like to see if you are repinning correctly, go to my Grape Vine board and repin any image (there are only three to choose from),  replacing the comment with "Hello Jane". if you've done it right, I'll get told by email and I'll pop over and say hello back.

Now you are ready to GET COMPING!

There are two main types of competition on Pinterest, Pin it to win it and Create a board.  (OK, OK, there are also "most likes" and "most repins" competitions but you probably all know my feelings about those on Facebook, I'm not going to even give them the dignity of being called competitions when it comes to Pinterest. If you don't know why, read Super Lucky Di's article about  cheating on Facebook)

Pin it to  win it
These are very simple to enter - a promoter will publish a picture and all you have to do is repin it to one of your own boards, by hovering the mouse at the top of a picture and clicking on  Repin. But do make sure you are repinning from the promoter's own Pinterest page and not that of another comper. Pinterest sends out a daily digest summary of activity, and the promoter will see from that who has entered as long as it is their own pin that you have repinned  If you've repinned it from somebody else, that other person is the one who gets the email. I  am already seeing this happen in my own daily emails, with compers repinning my entries - and I'm sorry folks but I'm not giving anything away on Pinterest...... YET. Think of it like Twitter, where you don't get entered into a competition by retweeting another comper's  tweet.
By going to the original board, as well as being able to enter the competition properly, you may well be able to see any terms and conditions relating to it - is it open to the UK?  When does it close? Not all businesses running Pinterest competitions have got the hang of including T&C yet but it's always best to have a look for them.

Create a board
These competitions  can be time consuming - and addictive - but fun. You are given a theme and asked to create a board relating to that theme. Make sure you read the instructions very carefully before you start your board. Some promoters will give you a specific name you must use for it, some may say you must follow them before you start to pin, and almost all will give you a way to contact them to tell  them you have entered. This may be

• email them a link to your finished board
• repin a particular pin from their board to yours
• tag them with a special hashtag
• tweet a link and hashtag to them via Twitter
• post a link to your board on their Facebook wall
• comment on one of their pins  with a link to your board

Some board-creating competitions running at the moment are listed below. Where possible, I have given you a link to the full instructions rather then the promoter's Pinterest page, to help you to see exactly what you need to do.

Super Lucky  win a £50 gift from Amazon. Closing 15 Jun.
Ocado win a tote bag of Orla Kiely goodies. Closing 31 May.
The Athaeneum win afternoon tea. Closing 10 Jun.
Harrods and Bikeminded win £150 worth of Harrods vouchers. Closing 27 May.
Atom Books win a cupcake decorating class for two. Closing 07 Jun.
Nixie Clothing win an item from their  Vintage Clothing collection. Closing 16 Jun.
I Love Gorgeous London children's books and dresses.  Closing date not given.
Festival Place a £100  gift card (note that this will have to be spent in Basingstoke, and Festival Place winners are usually required to collect their prizes in person). Closing date not given.
Boden
Tights Please a £100 hosiery gift bag. Closing date not given.
John Crane Toys £150 worth of toys. Closing 30 Jun.

A final note ...... TAKE CARE. Already the scammers are starting to try to pull the wool over compers' eyes. Luckily for us in the UK, they are still mostly confined to the USA but they appears as Pin-to-win comps with outrageously generous prizes to lure you into survey scams similar to the Facebook ones I blogged about recently. Always bear in mind - if something looks too good to be true it probably isn't true at all.