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Introduction to Pinterest
Learn what Pinterest is used for and how you can safely create and enjoy using
a Pinterest account of your own.
What is Pinterest?
Pinterest is a social media platform that allows people to
view billions of photos called Pins. Pins are photos that
are posted to Pinterest by its users. These photos can be
of anything and are categorised by theme and genre.
Pinterest allows you to view,
share, save and categorise
photos that interest you
Accessing Pinterest
Pinterest can be used on your computer by typing
https://www.pinterest.com.au into your web browser.
If you prefer to use Pinterest on your mobile device, you
can download the ocial Pinterest app from:
• the App store for all Apple devices
• the Google Play Store for all Android devices.
Only download from your
device’s ofcial app store.
Check the app’s authenticity
by looking at the:
• App’s publisher
• Star rating given
to the app by others
• Reviews from users
Browsing your Home Feed
Your Home Feed is where you’ll see photos (Pins) from other Pinterest users.
Pinterest adds Pins to your Home Feed based on the categories you search and
the photos you look at.
You’ll also see Pins from the people or companies you choose to follow.
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Introduction to Pinterest
Pinterest Boards
Boards are where you can save photos that you like.
For example, you might set up a Board with the name
Vegetarian Recipes and then save Pins of vegetarian
recipes to it. Saving Pins to Boards allows you to access
them quickly without having to search again.
How to create a Pinterest account
In our example, we’ll show the process of creating a
Pinterest account on a desktop or laptop computer.
The process of creating a Pinterest account on a mobile
device is similar, so you should still be able to follow along.
Accessing the Pinterest website
Type https://pinterest.com.au into the address bar of your web browser.
You’ll then see the Pinterest Home page. Now click Sign up.
Enter your details
A pop up appears and asks you to enter a few details:
• Your email
• A unique password
• Your age
If you don’t feel comfortable entering your real age, you can make it up.
Now click Continue.
Make sure that the password you create for your Pinterest
account isn’t used with any of your other online accounts.
Strong passwords consist of a mix of uppercase and
lowercase letters, numbers and symbols.
Boards let you save photos, or
Pins, that you like, so you don’t
have to search for them again
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Introduction to Pinterest
Let Pinterest know about your interests
Click the Next button to let Pinterest know about
your interests. This will help Pinterest display Pins that
interest you.
From the options, choose:
• your gender
• your country and preferred language
• ve categories that interest you.
Exploring Pinterest Settings
Click on the downwards-facing arrow in the top-right of
the screen and then click on Settings from the drop-down
menu. You’ll see that Edit prole is already selected.
Updating your username
For privacy reasons, it’s a good idea to change your username to something that
doesn’t include the full name you used to create your Pinterest account.
Click the Username box and type a unique username. If your username is already
taken by someone else, Pinterest will let you know and you can choose again.
Add a prole photo
Now, add a photo to your prole information for other Pinterest users to see.
Click Change next to the grey circle and follow the steps to add a photo or images
saved to your computer.
Adjusting your Notications
The Notications settings menu controls which notications are sent to you by
Pinterest. You can choose to receive notications:
• While you’re using Pinterest
• Via email
• By push notication to your device or computer.
Sharing your interests helps
Pinterest recommend Pins that
are relevant
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Introduction to Pinterest
Controlling Push notications
Getting a notication every time something happens can
be annoying, so you can turn o push notications:
• Click the Edit button next to By Push notications.
• De-select any of the push notications you don’t wish
to receive, or
• Click Turn o all to stop receiving push notications.
Two-factor authentication
The Security settings menu lets you set up two-factor
authentication. This means a secure code will be sent
to your mobile device each time you want to login to
Pinterest and you will need to enter this secure code to
successfully log in.
While it isn’t required, two-factor authentication keeps
your account more secure.
Controlling your Pinterest privacy settings
Let’s take a look at some of the settings that can help keep your personal information
secure.
The Privacy and data settings menu
To access the Privacy and data menu:
1. Click on the downwards-facing arrow in the top-right of the screen.
2. Click Settings from the drop-down menu.
3. Click Privacy and data from the list of options on the right.
Find, Mention and Target
The Privacy and data settings menu allows you to control who can nd your
Pinterest account, who can mention you on Pinterest and how Pinterest can target
you with advertising.
Control annoying notications
by switching them off
completely
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Introduction to Pinterest
@Mentions
By default, any other Pinterest user can @mention you when they create a new Pin.
To control this, you can select from the following options:
• Anyone on Pinterest
• Only people you follow on Pinterest
• Turn o – no one can @mention you in their Pins.
Search Privacy
Your Pins may appear in search results when someone enters a search term that matches
your Pin. For example, someone might use a search engine to nd “Potting Heliconia Hot
Rio Nights” and your Pin of your home garden might appear in the search results.
If you’d prefer to not appear in any search results, tick Hide your prole from search
engines.
Personalisation
The Personalisation options control the way Pinterest targets advertising to you.
One options even gives Pinterest permission to share your data with other organisations!
To stop Pinterest tracking your online activities, de-select all of the options
in the Personalisation section.
Once you’ve done that, click Save.
Creating Boards in Pinterest
Let’s take a look at the the process of creating your rst
Board in Pinterest, and saving things that interest you.
What is a Board?
You can think of a Pinterest Board as a cork board that
you pin your photos to so you can view them.
You can create as many Boards as you like and name
them based on the types of Pins on each. For example,
you might have a Board for recipes, travel destinations
or garden ideas . Boards can also be shared with other
people by inviting them to contribute to the Board.
Name your Board according
to the types of Pins you intend
to save
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Introduction to Pinterest
Creating a new Board
Here’s how to create a new Board and save some Pins to it:
1. From your Home Feed, click your Prole icon in the top-right corner.
2. Click the + icon in the middle-right of the screen.
3. Click Board from the drop-down menu.
4. Give your Board a name. In this example, we’ll create a Winter recipes
Board.
5. Turn on the switch if you want the Board to be private, then click Create.
6. Pinterest will show a pop up with suggested Pins for your Board. Click on
the Save button to save a Pin to your Board.
7. Once you’ve nished saving suggested Pins, click Done. The pop up will
close and you’ll see all the Pins on your Winter recipes Board.
8. To rene your search, click the Search eld at the top of the Board and
enter what you’re looking for, such as Chicken Pie.
9. When the search results appear, scroll the list of Pins until you nd
something that catches your eye.
10. To save a Pin, click on the Save button.
Viewing your dierent Boards
To see all your Boards, click your Prole icon in the top-right corner.
Your saved Pins and Boards appear on your Prole page, as well as the number
of Pins you have saved to each Board.
Sharing your Board
To share your Board with friends:
• Click on the Board you want to share to select it.
• Click on the three horizontal dots next to the name
of the Board.
• Click Share from the drop-down menu.
You can share your Board via a range of apps or click
Copy link to send it to your friend via an email.
Pinterest provides options for
sharing Boards with others
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Introduction to Pinterest
Creating Pins in Pinterest
Pins are photos that are uploaded by Pinterest users. A Pin can be a new photo
that you have taken, or a photo saved from the internet. Let’s look at how to
create a Pin in Pinterest.
Remember that images and photos online are
often covered by copyright. You can use them
as Pins, but you should not use them for any
other purpose.
Creating a new Pin
To create a new Pin:
• Click the + button in the bottom-right corner of the screen.
• Click Create a Pin.
Add the details of your Pin
In the pop-up, upload and add some information about
your Pin. You can:
• Drag and drop the photo you want to upload, into the
grey rectangle
• Click in the rectangle to choose a le that is saved to
your computer
• Add a title for your Pin
• Add a brief description about your Pin.
Pinterest recommends that you use high quality photos
for new Pins. You should use images that have been
saved in the .jpeg format, and which are no more than
20MB in size.
Give your Pin a title and
description
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Introduction to Pinterest
Choosing where to save your Pin
You can save a Pin to a Board you have already created.
In this example, we’re using the Winter recipes Board
created earlier.
• Click the downward-facing arrow in the box next
to the Save button.
• A drop-down list of the dierent Boards you have
created appears.
• Click on Winter recipes.
• Click Save to save the Pin to the Winter recipes Board.
Browsing new Pins
Each day, Pinterest shows a list of Pins, based on your preferences and the types of Pins
saved to your Boards.
Click Today in the top-left of screen to view a list of suggested Pins.
When you see a Pin you like,
choose the Board you want
to save it to
