For a while, I had a bulletin cork board hung in my room where I would pin up interesting things I saw on magazines or websites. When people would visit my room, they’d instantly get a glimpse of what I was interested in. It was a neat way, I thought, for people to learn more about me. Over time, as more and more items were pinned to the board, I was able to see how my interests changed.

I would also look at the board reguarly to spark ideas and inspiration. My favorite environment to work in is one that’s filled with things that interest and inspire me. It helps inspire and motivate my work.

When I first heard about Pinterest, I dismissed as just another no-name social network to fill a small bit of space on the internet. A few days ago, I had heard enough positive talk about it that I decided to give Pinterest a chance, via an email invite since the service is still in invite-only beta.

The site instantly intrigued me after I signed up. I spent the next three hours browsing and using the site. It’s set up in a neat way, and a similar way to my bulletin board in which I could “pin” any item or post that I found interesting to my virtual “boards”. Each board is essesntially its own category or interest that you can pin items to. Any user can “re-pin” or like any other pin on the site.

I feel Pinterest is filling an empty void on the internet. There are plenty of sites out there where I can share what’s on my mind, there are plenty of sites where I can share and edit photos and videos, but there’s no good website to curate a collection of my interests and inspirations. Until Pinterest.

I really love Pinterest. It’s refreshing to use a social network that is unqiue and isn’t a complete copy of all the others. If you’d like to try out Pinterest, you’ll need an invite to do so. Luckily, I have a few invites I can give out.

If you’d like an invite, simply send an email to alex@alexleiphart.me or send me a reply on Twitter, @alexleiphart.