Pinterest is a platform and a social network. It serves as a search engine for recipes, home decorating ideas, craft inspiration and more. The name Pinterest is composed of the English words pin and interest.
Pinterest works like an online pinboard with a search engine where you can find images, short videos and the like. Those who are logged in can create pinboards themselves. Content on Pinterest that is displayed as a card or box is called a pin. Pins from others can be saved and stored on your own pinboard. Any user can create pins and share ideas with other users on Pinterest . The so-called home feed, i.e. the start page that is displayed after registration, contains pins from other users and companies that the algorithm has calculated as interesting based on the user’s own activity. It also displays pins from the users and pinboards that you follow.
To use all the features of Pinterest, you need to register. Those who do not wish to register must use content from Pinterest via an external search engine (e.g. by entering the search term and “Pinterest”).
If you like to be creative, are looking for new ideas and want to exchange ideas with others about your hobby, you will find many possibilities and suggestions on Pinterest. The visual layout of the site is appealing. Nevertheless, there are certainly more adults than children and teenagers hanging around here. Parents can find craft ideas and the like for their children. Teens can share pinboards with friends on Pinterest . Group bulletin boards are a great way to gather and share ideas and plans.
Pinterest is a service for adults. Even if at first glance there is no problematic content, the site is not designed for use by children and teenagers. The content is determined by the users, i.e. it may also be unsuitable for children. Businesses use Pinterest to showcase themselves, so young users can be exposed to ads they may not recognize. There have already been pinboards from pro-ana forums and the like that have called for unhealthy and sometimes dangerous lifestyles. By agreeing to Pinterest’s privacy policy, users allow personal data to be passed on to third parties. You can find out more about this at klicksafe.
Pinterest has adjusted its terms of use to avoid problematic content. It is forbidden to advertise self-injurious behavior on the platform, and warnings with offers of help are displayed on certain pinboards. Pinterest says they respect the intellectual property rights of others and expect the same from Pinterest users. Pinterest assumes no responsibility for third-party content.
Pinterest earned primarily with advertising, so-called “Promoted Pins”. The advantage of these advertising pins, he said, is that they can be inserted seamlessly and are not perceived by the user as annoying advertising.
Since Pinterest is not a service for children, but there is also interesting content there for young users, it is best to browse the platform together. Make sure that your child (before he is 13 years old) does not create his own account, it is better to use the detour via an external search engine. If your child is eager to sign up on their own to create pinboards with friends, do the signup together. Make possible security settings. You can disable personalization in the settings so that the platform does not collect activity outside of Pinterest . You should also set the account to private. Ask regularly and let them show you what your child is looking at on Pinterest.