I came across this article “Why Pinterest Has NOT Reimagined Scrapbooking” and found it so interesting.
I left my opinion in the comments (copied here):
I’m a purely paper scrapper and don’t have a Pinterest account (although images from my blog are often linked there and I look at the backlinks). But I’m a scrapbook blogger and see that many of us are on Pinterest. I don’t think it’s become “the new scrapbooking” for most (if any) scrapbookers. I do think it’s a way that many of them keep loads of inspiration in one place … lots and lots of eye candy and ideas. I also see scrapbookers using it to keep scrapbook organizational ideas (we scrappers can have lots of “stuff” and keeping it organized is half the fun, LOL).
One of the so-called downsides I see to Pinterest is the time-suck it’s become and I hear from many that it has cut into their actual scrapbooking time. The internet in general is full of free inspiration and it’s easy to get sucked in for hours … time that MAY have been spent at the scrap table in the past. Collecting inspiration, for some, may be replacing actually creating.
But there are other online influences – like Facebook, Twitter, blogs, and message boards – that have had the same effect. Have these mediums impacted the world of scrapbooking? Sure have. Have they made scrapbooking go away to any great extent? No, I don’t think so. It seems there have been recent declines in our hobby but I attribute them to other things, like the economy, the digital camera impact, changing trends, and over-saturation of the market in the early 2000’s.
One thing I wonder about Pinterest: Has it created new scrapbookers? The scrapbookers’ Pinterest boards I’ve looked at seem to also have pins for homeschooling, organization, “mommy blogs”, home decor, fashion, quilting, etc. So perhaps it’s led homeschoolers, organizational gurus, fashionistas, etc. to try scrapbooking once they see it around Pinterest? Hmmm…
Thanks for the article. Thought-provoking and well-written!
I keep hearing Facebook Timeline and Pinterest being called “the new scrapbook.” I guess for those who never scrapbooked before, sure. Now they create a digital “scrapbook” on Pinterest or Facebook. But for actual scrapbookers, I’m not seeing it. Are you? Maybe I’m totally off base.
What do you think? Has Pinterest “reimagined” (whatever the flock that means) scrapbooking for you? Has it affected your scrapbooking in any way, good or bad? Are you scrapping more with the inspiration, or less with the Time Suck that is Pinterest?
13 Comments
I totally don’t see it either! I will always be a papercrafter/scrapper. I do have a Pinterest Account but I use it to, as you said, keep loads of awesome inspiration in the one place and organised.
I don’t see it either. But I love it as a resource. I think it is another way of communication with fellow artists (paper artists or graphic artists) and a great place for inspiration. I love to look at products, packaging, fonts, magazine ads and use them as inspiration for a page. I think of it as another tool. Like the post I have up today is actually inspired by a west elm frame that I pinned.
I agree with you. Not replacing scrapbooking at all.
But maybe cutting into scrapbook time if it is a time suck for a person.
For me, Facebook is more of a time suck than Pinterest.
But I usually just check Pinterest for a few minutes once a day.
I’m not too obsessed with it.
I do love the inspiration I get from it though, and have already used several quotes on layouts :)
I love pinterest. I look at it as a cool idea organizer. It will never take place of my scrapbooking, though. I need to play with paper and glue.
I’m happy to have found you through a thread on two peas and have started following you. I hope you’re able to come by my blog sometime.
Pinterest isn’t a scrapbook. It’s a visual organizational tool. It’s great for gathering ideas, but recording memories? Not even close.
I think pinterest is really great! It is only a time-sucker if you let it be. It has given me tons of inspiration for scrapbooking and you might even say saves me time, because my friends are finding great layouts for me! I think it’s great for collecting and organizing ideas. Not a scrapbook, of course.
I have found sketches by searching other people’s pinterest boards, but that’s the extent of my use of it. I don’t have an account there myself and see no need for one at present.
That’s ridiculous. I don’t see Pinterest as being “the new scrapbook.” In fact, I don’t think it is remotely reminiscent of scrapbooking. It’s just a virtual bulletin board to pin the things that we all spend way too much time looking at and keep them in one place to refer to again. Sure, it is inspiring. But if it gets in the way of actually crafting, I see it as a bad thing. I know for sure that Facebook and even Two Peas, at times, can eat into my scrapbooking time so I have limited my visits to Pinterest although I always enjoy myself when I go there. This was very interesting – thanks for posting!
Well, I love it! It might be a scrapbook in a different sense, but not in the artistic sense that you and I talk about. It is great for keeping things together and sorted, which is another form of scrapbooking – just TOTALLY different from what we do! LOL! I do love to keep ideas there and I actually have used several, which is more than I can say for mags that I’ve kept or things like that. Plus…it;s fun! :-)
I love pinterest as a resource. I used to spend hours searching the Internet looking for ideas, sketches etc. I’d save them to a folder on my desktop and then once in a while print them out. I’d make my own idea books. I wasted paper, ink and lots of time and money. Now I pin things and take my iPad with me when scrap. I can access my boards in seconds, find what I need and get a page/card done.
Pinterest ‘reimagined” scrapbooking. I don’t think so.
To me, pinterest is just a better way to bookmark things in the computer. Used to be you could bookmark something but then end up with a long list of sites, half the time you can’t remember what you found there of interest. Pinterest allows you to ‘bookmark’ exactly what appeals to you, and makes it easy to find again.
The only effect I could see it having in the scrapbook world is perhaps easier for the Scraplifters among us to find inspiration.
I do have an account there, but only visit maybe once a week or less. It can be a terrific time sucker. As for “reimagining” (what on earth does that word mean?) my answer is no. I don’t see that it’s changed my scrapping one bit. I do love it for keeping ideas together. Especially for home decor ideas.
Thanks for sharing. I agree with you that Pinterest like all other social media sites, takes away so much precious scrapbooking time. I enjoy my time at the scrapbooking table, each time I opened up a site for inspiration, I am drawn in for the rest of the evening. I think the article allows us to be more conscious that this is happening, so that we will be more diligent in keeping time, rather than allowing ourselves to be led! All the best to all scrapbookers!