Gone are the days of Pinterest being a secret hidden gem, now even Mark Zuckerberg (allegedly) and Whole Foods both have an account. But how are dedicated users feeling now that brands are starting to get in on the action?

Although the mechanic is set in stone, see an image or a video and 'pin it' to a board, there's a lot of freedom when it comes to how, when and why individuals use Pinterest. Therefore it's no surprise that some see it as a personal space for lovely images and feel irritated by the thought of businesses being on the site too, and others are actively getting involved with their favourite brands already. Of course the same can be said for most social networks, but from what I can tell many users feel extremely possessive of the things they've pinned and the boards they've 'created' on Pinterest so far that it might be harder for brands to interact in a way that seems natural.

There are those brands that have already taken to Pinterest well, that use the site as a way to promote a lifestyle like Etsy, pin images of the products they sell without it seeming too much like a shop front, like Burberry, or share relevant tips and ideas, like Whole Foods.

However, the big problem for me personally is how brands will run competitions that make me want to enter and don't just irritate the hell out of me.

So far we've seen a number of different brands adopt a 'pin it to win it' kind of strategy with some success, like Lands' End Canvas in the US. Today we were sent details of a new competition being run on the site by bmi, which has launched a 'Pinterest lottery' and adopts a similar kind of mechanic. The idea of the promotion is that users are encouraged to share photos to their boards and then a number of winning images will be announced at the end of each week. To some the idea may sound a little forced, but luckily bmi has chosen lovely photos of great destinations to include in the lottery and the brand is open to suggestions about the boards that will be added in coming weeks, so it seems a little less fake and much more about sharing great content, as well as encouraging people to enter a prize draw too, of course.

It seems Pinterest could well be an ideal place to hold competitions, as long as sharing good quality content is still at the core. But, that doesn't mean to say brands can crowbar promotional messages at the end of cute kitten photos because they know we'll share them...

So are you happy to 'pin it to win it' or is the site much more about personal photos to you?

Also, if you see a great Pinterest promotion we'd be really interested in hearing about it and why you think it's awesome/totally sucks.

We love Pinterest, we love Instagram, but did we REALLY need someone to mash the two together?

Try to contain yourself photography and curation geeks, but someone has squashed two of your all time favourite things together. Pinterest and Instagram have been combined to create the unsurprisingly named Pingram. Now if only it gave us an endless supply of chocolate and a date with Ryan Gosling too our lives would be COMPLETE.

Pingram, recently launched by developer Gennaro Varriale, allows you to browse through all of the photos from your Instagram feed as if you were looking for things to re-pin and like on Pinterest. The very cool thing is, if you see something you like you can actually pin it to your Pinterest boards too, even though you're technically looking through an Instagram feed. Look at that for super smooth integration.

It may sound a bit unnecessary, but with so many brands, businesses and individuals adopting the grid-like layout made oh-so-popular by the likes of Tumblr and Pinterest, we imagine some will prefer it to their usual web-based Instagram viewers.

[Via Venture Beat]

Last week Tumblr took the controversial step to reveal that it'll be banning blogs that it considers to promote self-harming in the future. But is an outright ban really the best solution to such a complex and sensitive issue?

In recent years, Tumblr has become a global phenomenon with more than 46,708,159 blogs under its belt to date that cover everything from funny cats to politics, business news to sex advice. You name it and there's probably at least ten Tumblogs dedicated to it.

Therefore, it's no surprise that some of the content on Tumblr has raised some tricky questions recently and last week the company decided to take a stand and ban blogs that it considers to promote self-harming.

A post published by the Tumblr team on the official blog attempted to explain the decision to its users:

"We are deeply committed to supporting and defending our users' freedom of speech, but we do draw some limits. As a company, we've decided that some specific kinds of content aren't welcome on Tumblr"

The post then went into more detail about the kinds of blogs that could well be banned in the near future:

"These typically take the form of blogs that glorify or promote anorexia, bulimia, and other eating disorders; self-mutilation; or suicide."

To come up with a new way of regulating this kind of content, the company is now looking to draw up a brand new Content Policy, and it's turning to its users for help.

However, as you'd expect the blog post left some users happy, some angry and others very confused, because who's to say which blogs promote self-harm and which offer some individuals a form of support?

If you're suffering from any kind of medical condition you don't just have to deal with physical pain and discomfort, but you can spend a lot of your time feeling unbelievably scared and alone. Although medical professionals are there to help, you can't call them whenever you please and their approach is often far too clinical. In the same vein, although friends and family offer love and support, how can they really empathise with what you're going through?

Therefore it's no surprise that the Internet has become an ideal haven for those living with the same problems to connect regardless of where they are or even who they are in their 'real' offline lives. Of course we rarely seem to have a problem with the blogs and websites created to connect those that have most illnesses, but those which bring people together who are suffering from eating disorders, mental health issues and problems with self-harm tend to make up a rather grey area that very few on the outside seem to properly understand.

Later in the post, Tumblr tries to separate support sites from those that are promoting content that glorifies injury in anyway. Here's what the team calls a 'draft' of its new policy:

"Active Promotion of Self-Harm. Don't post content that actively promotes or glorifies self-injury or self-harm. This includes content that urges or encourages readers to cut or mutilate themselves; embrace anorexia, bulimia, or other eating disorders; or commit suicide rather than, e.g., seek counseling or treatment for depression or other disorders. Online dialogue about these acts and conditions is incredibly important; this prohibition is intended to reach only those blogs that cross the line into active promotion or glorification. For example, joking that you need to starve yourself after Thanksgiving or that you wanted to kill yourself after a humiliating date is fine, but recommending techniques for self-starvation or self-mutilation is not."

That certainly makes things a little clearer in theory, but in practice we imagine it'll be much harder to make those kinds of distinctions.

We understand why these kinds of blogs could well be both emotionally and physically harmful to many people, but at the same time we can't help but think that an outright ban might not be the best solution for those who turn to these sites for support, even if they don't provide the answers and help they really need.

Due to some of the uproar from users after the original blog post, Tumblr published a follow-up post, which explained it would be working with the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) to pull together its new policy and attempted to clarify that support sites would not be banned:

"While we won't allow blogs dedicated to triggering self-harm, we will not act against blogs engaged in discussion, support, encouragement, and documenting the experiences of those dealing with difficult conditions like anorexia, bulimia, and other forms of self-injury. We absolutely want Tumblr to be a place where people struggling with these behaviors can find solace, community, dialog, understanding, and hope."

But again, is it REALLY that easy for outsiders to say what constitues support and what doesn't?

Although some blogs have popped up over the past few weeks, some online communities and blogs that many may believe to promote self-harm have been established for years, which has led countless users to make strong connections with others, ingraining this online community into their offline lives. In this way, engaging in these communities is not just about mutual support or a bad habit that needs to be broken, it's become an integral part of their daily lives and banning these sites could be detrimental in the long run.

Various charities, organisations and even individuals have campaigned to have self-harm and pro-ana websites banned or at least more closely moderated over the past few years, so it's good to see Tumblr take the issue so seriously.

It's impossible to say whether an outright ban is the best solution or not, but it is good to see the popular blogging platform take the issue seriously, explaining its actions every step of the way and looking to those that matter the most to help make decisions, its users.

[Image via Yoshiffles]

Black Dog Tribe, a new online community for anyone affected by mental illness, has started a new Pinterest initiative called One Positive Thing, which invites its members to share their positive, inspirational and motivational images with the world.

Yesterday we wrote about some great Pinterest users that we recommend you all follow, and while we were doing our research (like good little elves) we came across all kinds of new and exciting ways that both brands and individuals alike are using the website.

One great use of Pinterest can be seen from one of Shiny Shiny's partner sites, Black Dog Tribe, which has started using the pin board community in a way that not only looks good but aims to brighten up our days just a little bit more.

Black Dog Tribe is a website and online community for anyone affected by mental illness, and with new stats suggesting that's 1 in 4 of us, it's an issue that can't be ignored. The team has created a shiny new Pinterest account called One Positive Thing and it's inviting users to contribute any images that make them feel good to their boards. That can be anything from a hero that inspires them, a dancing kitten, a beautiful photo or just an inspirational quote, so we imagine over the next few weeks the Black Dog Tribe boards will become a lovely haven for anyone feeling a little low.

If you want to contribute your images, then you can follow Black Dog Tribe on pinterest at pinterest.com/1positivething/. If you're not obsessed with the world of Pinterest, pinning and pinboards quite yet, you can always visit the Black Dog Tribe Facebook page and leave a link to your happy images there too so the team can add them for you.

It's great to see a community using Pinterest in a way to encourage collaboration, bring people together as a community AND share lovely happy images too.

Pinterest really is what you make of it, so follow some of our top recommended users for plenty of cool photography, fashion snaps and design inspiration.

So you've bought into the Pinterest hype, you've created some boards with pretentious titles and a large proportion of the time you'd usually spend working/eating/sleeping has been taken up by the obsessive pinning of EVERYTHING in sight.

Sure you can use Pinterest to just store content that you see around the web, but a big part of the site is about re-pinning, liking and commenting on photos that other users have uploaded too. Although you can browse through photos by category on Pinterest with ease, it's really much more useful if you follow a bunch of cool people who tend to pin things you're interested in.

Yes many argue Pinterest is too girly or pretentious or just rubbish. But our advice is STOP FOLLOWING LOTS OF GIRLY/PRETENTIOUS/RUBBISH PEOPLE THEN, it's really not rocket science.

We compiled a short list of awesome people to follow on Pinterest back in September, but here's an updated list with our top ten suggestions of who's really worth following, whether you're into photography, cupcakes or design, along with a few suggestions from Twitter too:

Hansol Kim

Best for: The most amazing photos

My personal favourite Pinterest user, Hansol Kim curates some of the most beautiful photographs from all over the web. There are lots of boards of lovely looking people, which tend to get a LOT of re-pins, but as a photographer himself the more technical boards about different poses, movements and lighting are pretty fascinating too. I love the fact he labels his boards in a pretty unique way too, with the first names of famous stars, take a look at Audrey, James and Marilyn.

Follow him: pinterest.com/tinman/

Oscar PR Girl

Best for: Fashion content and behind-the-scenes exclusives

We've been big fans of Oscar PR Girl's online activity for a LONG time now and it seems she doesn't fail to disappoint in the world of Pinterest either. She labels her boards in a super simple way, collecting only the best photos from the world of fashion and everything Oscar de la Renta. There are also some dreamy photos of interiors and hairstyles to swoon at too.

Follow her: pinterest.com/oscarprgirl/

Recommended by: @teriTECHNO / pinterest.com/terbaby/

GSD&M / SXSurvival

Best for: Innovative use of Pinterest

We love boards full of inspiring and cute pins as much as the next person, but as the community has gained momentum over the past few months we've started to see some rather different uses of Pinterest and this example from GSD&M is pretty damn cool.

The agency has created a SXSW Survival Guide to help those attending the popular Austin conference make the most of their time and find out what to eat, drink, see and do around town. The thing that makes it really stand out is that the agency essentially put a front-end microsite on top of their Pinterest boards. Genius. Check out the site at sxsurvival.com.

Follow them: http://pinterest.com/gsdm/

Recommended by: @33Digital

The Perfect Palette

Best for: Weddings and colour inspiration

Whether you love it or hate it, Pinterest is a brilliant place for wedding planning and a modern day version of the traditional scrap book. If collecting colours, fabrics and all kinds of other ideas for your big day takes up a lot of your time on Pinterest, then there are SO many different users you can follow. Our favourite, and the most popular, has to be The Perfect Palette, an eye popping celebration of all things colour, weddings and smart ideas.

Follow them: pinterest.com/perfectpalette/

Sha Hwang

Best for: Design and architectural inspiration

A designer who pins a lot of the usual stuff you see on the site day in and day out, like his heroes and food snaps, but he's so popular because he also has a great collection of design pins, which are both clever and fascinating. Installation and Spaces and Architect and Heart are two of our all time favourite boards.

Follow him: pinterest.com/shashashasha/

Jane Wang

Best for: Variety and a huge mix of lovely pins

One of the most popular users on Pinterest, Jane Wang pins photos spanning pretty much every topic you can think of, from cupcakes to marine life. She also has great taste too, so she's a handy person to follow if you're just getting into this whole Pinterest lark.

Follow her: pinterest.com/janew/

Christine Martinez

Best for: A cute mix of fashion and interiors

Another VERY popular user, Christine Martinez pins lots of lovely, stylish and colourful content covering most of Pinterest's most popular categories, like interiors, fashion and cool stuff for the home.

Follow her: pinterest.com/chrisem/

Michael Litman

Best for: Information junkies

He's a friend of Shiny Shiny's and may not have the HUGE following of others on the list, but Michael's Infographics and Quotes board is pretty damn addictive if you're an information junkie.

Follow him: pinterest.com/litmanlive/

Shiny Shiny

Yep, this is obviously a really biased one and we've only JUST started using it, but as a dedicated fan of the site you should really go and follow us RIGHT NOW. We'll be pinning some of the best content we find from around the web, links to our features and sneak peek photos from all the best tech shows and events we attend. Oh, as well as lots of weird stuff we find too for our WTF board.

Follow us: pinterest.com/shinyshinytv/

You can also check out another Shiny Media page, Bridalwave, or some of the team's personal accounts, Becca Caddy (me, me) and Elisabeth Edvardsen.

Related: All you need to know about how to get started with Pinterest

Over the past few years, British fashion house Burberry has become almost as well-known for its innovative online activity as it is for its trench coats and iconic tartan print.

The brand has made its mark on Instagram, paved the way for other brands when it comes to f-commerce and designed a pretty slick Google+ page, as well as much, much more.

Burberry didn't fail to impress industry insiders (and online fans) at London Fashion Week on Monday either, as it made its new collection more accessible than ever.

Last year the brand made fashion and tech headlines when it held the world's first 'tweetwalk', and this time around Burberry partnered up with Twitter yet again, giving users a sneak peek at its designs before the actual show, meaning (unsurprisingly) #Burberry trended globally. The tweetwalk and subsequent show were also live streamed to Facebook and Burberry.com, as well as massive outdoor screens throughout London, so even those who couldn't get to the show could keep up with the action.

The brand also utilised its popular Instagram feed as a way to keep people updated, encouraged sharing on Facebook, provided people with exclusive tracks from the show on iTunes AND created a kind of fake rainstorm as a finale. We may not be huge fans of fashion, but we can really appreciate the brand's innovative online efforts. Well done Burberry, well done.

Watch the Burberry show again or explore the looks on Burberry.com.

Rather than target its online offering at anyone and everyone (and therefore compete with the big boys of social networking), a new community called Over Coffee aims to only connect those with an all-consuming caffeine addiction.

The site's 'about us' page unsurprisingly reads like an ode to coffee, that only true lovers will really understand:

"A lot can happen over a cup of coffee. You find out a friend is getting married. You end up face to face with an intimidating first date and hide behind your Cup of Joe. You disclose deep-rooted secrets. You find yourself in a new world with new people and new coffee cultures. Even when you are alone with a cup of coffee, something is happening."

And then goes on to outline the key aims of the network:

"This site is about coffee, people, travels, and about the shared experiences that take place over a cup of coffee. In addition, you can check out coffee shops in your area, add your favorite cafes to our world map, learn about different coffee cultures all over the world, and even browse our own coffee shop on our site!"

As you'd expect, users are able to create personalised profiles and log-in using their Facebook accounts. They can then go on to upload photos, talk about coffee with others, write about their experiences of coffee, flag up good coffee shops and all other kinds of marvellous coffee-related activities.

Social networking sites that are focused on a rather niche subject or personal interests are becoming much more commonplace online, like fashion communities, such as WIWT and Lookbook.nu or green communities, like Care2.

As Econsultancy points out, Over Coffee could potentially be really successful, because it's tapping into the already passionate (and sometimes a little obsessive) coffee loving community, "Over Coffee could prove to be a success as sharing a coffee is already a popular social experience."

[Via Econsultancy]

Ahh Myspace. It was probably everyone's first social networking experience (hold on, does anyone else remember Faceparty?!), we followed local bands, we posed within an inch of our lives and added 5,543,399 friends a day. But then over the years Facebook took over and despite attempts by Myspace to become an "entertainment hub" or a "one-stop-shop for music lovers", everyone just kinda forgot it existed...

Well, it seems that's no longer the case, as according to PC World, the once huge social network has grown at a speedy rate over the past few months and may soon be announcing it's added one million members since December. Yep, we couldn't quite believe it at first either.

Specific Media bought MySpace from News Corp back in June and since then its music library and social network integration appears to have led to the rather unexpected comeback. Although we're not entirely convinced that Myspace is set to take over the web again, with a Panasonic partnership, dedicated TV app on the cards, online chat functionality and plenty of exciting plans in the pipeline we're interested to see what's next for the social network of our teenage years.

Yes, we know half of you are so sick of the Pinterest-related posts already and the other half of you are sat there furiously pinning away and sharing bags and books and blankets. But yesterday LLSocial uncovered something rather interesting about the 'website of the moment' that you may find a little surprising...

According to LLSocial Pinterest has been making money from affiliate links:

"If you post a pin to Pinterest, and it links to an ecommerce site that happens to have an affiliate program, Pinterest modifies the link to add their own affiliate tracking code. If someone clicks through the picture from Pinterest and makes a purchase, Pinterest gets paid."

The blog post goes on to state that Pinterest is using popular affiliate marketing service Skimlinks, and although many small sites use it too, it looks like Pinterest could be its biggest client to date...

Disclosure: Shiny Shiny is a Skimlinks partner

[Via LLSocial]

Now before I begin, know that I'm a big fan of Pinterest. I see how the very clever and popular visual inspiration site is useful to individuals and even brands alike. I use it for all different kinds of purposes from bookmarking articles, collecting images as inspiration for projects and just looking at places I'd like to go and hair I'd like to have (yes, sometimes I'm that shallow). But, I can't help but think there's something a little sad about sitting there collecting together beautiful and idyllic images day in and day out.

Yesterday as I sat there re-pinning all kinds of photos, I started thinking about how and why I use Pinterest. I've been using it for quite a while now (not in a cringeworthy "I had it before you" kinda way) and find that most of the things I pin are really useful to me. In many ways I use it as a way to bookmark sites and articles, whether it's a piece about a cool gadget or a make-up tutorial, and find that saving a photo rather than a link in some random bookmarks folder just works so much better for me and suits the way my brain is wired. I then save some things for future inspiration (like a tattoos board of designs I'd like one day) or motivation (a bit of a cheesy board with fitness quotes to get me out running) and I've never found a better way to store that kind of content before.

However, I've found that some part of my time on Pinterest is just spent looking at the lovely lives of others and re-pinning, re-pinning and re-pinning. Whether it's things I wish I was eating or places I wish I was or people I wish I looked like or a bag I wish I could afford. Although 90% of my time on Pinterest is productive and about collecting together images I need to refer to in the future (like a gadget I want to write about for Shiny, a recipe I want to cook or a place I want to visit in summer), others were pinned in a dreamy daze and I know I'm not the only one who's done that in the past few weeks, even if none of you are willing to admit it.

Part of me thinks there's nothing wrong with looking at lovely images because (despite the fact I have no experience in psychology) I imagine it has a positive impact on your well-being and mood. But, at the same time it seems there's something very sad about living your life through a series of beautiful, dreamy images when really we should be out there making them ourselves.

As I thought about Pinterest and how myself and all the people I follow are using it, I was reminded of a great piece by BitchBuzz editor, Cate Sevilla, a few months ago about how far too many of us are living our lives vicariously through photos on Tumblr. Although Cate was mainly referring to the lives of bloggers on Tumblr, I think in a way we're still living our lives vicariously through Pinterest photos, even if we don't know the identity of the people in them.

In many ways this has absolutely nothing to do with Pinterest, but more to do with the fact we spend so much of our time online looking at images. Images that will help us, motivate us and prove useful in the future, but also those that will make us day dream, waste time and make us want to be somewhere or even someone else.

As with every social network, it totally depends on how you use it, I'm sure a lot of users just pin the the sensible stuff and bookmark a cool article or a piece of street art they think is awesome. But you only have to go browse through other boards (and sites like We Heart It) to see that's not how everyone uses it. Maybe it's something wrong with me and the other day dreamers out there, maybe we're destined to be airy-fairy observers who don't JUST GET ON WITH IT.

But, from now on I certainly won't be giving up on Pinterest. After all, it's probably my favourite place to scurry away to online. However, I might not fall into the rabbit hole of pinning things because I want them in my life anymore and only collect together images that are useful and will get me out there doing things later and not keep me locked up in a little beautiful fantasy land.

How do you find yourself using Pinterest? There's nothing wrong with re-pinning lovely things, but do you think you get a little carried away?

We're no longer surprised when we come across research that claims checking emails, tweets and scrolling through Facebook is addictive. Just go into any office around midday and you'll see good, hard proof of that.

However, a new study of our everyday desires has found that the urge to keep on top of our emails and check what our friends are doing online is stronger than the desire to smoke and drink, which is pretty worrying given how addictive they are.

The research was published this week in a journal called Psychological Studies, which also found that our ability to resist a quick Facebook fix lessens throughout the day.

Dr Wilhelm Hofmann, the University of Chicago Booth School of Business who oversaw the study, said:

"Modern life is a welter of assorted desires marked by frequent conflict and resistance, the latter with uneven success. As a day wears on, willpower becomes lower and self-control efforts are more likely to fail."

However, although we admit to being completely addicted to checking emails, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (the list really could go on and on) constantly ourselves, we're a bit wary about the conclusions drawn from a study that's only polled 200 people. Let's hope more conclusive research is carried out in this area soon before everything becomes a little too much like The Matrix.

[Via All Facebook Image via Geekosystem]

We've written about our love for blogging platform Jux a few times in the past, but have often felt it needs just a little bit more work before it's going to replace the likes of Tumblr and even Wordpress further down the line.

So, it's pretty exciting that Jux has this week announced it'll be hooking up with Instagram to allow users to share their blurry, retro shots alongside images from the likes of Facebook and Flickr too.

The main thing we love about Jux is that it makes our images look AMAZING. They're displayed in a fancy grid-like layout, can be swiped and moved around easily and take up the whole screen. So, it makes sense that Jux would team up with an awesome photo editing tool to make our photos and blogs look even slicker.

It really comes as no surprise that the FBI is looking to monitor social networks even more closely than it (presumably) already does. However, up until now there's been no official evidence as to what its online activities are, other than being wary of Second Life of course. Well, until now.

According to New Scientist, earlier this month a document was released that revealed the FBI is on the lookout for companies who would be willing to build an advanced social media monitoring system. From the document it seems that the FBI hopes to be able to automatically search for any material on social media sites that mentions specific keywords relating to terrorism and FBI operations.

The FBI then wants to be able to display this kind of information onto a map, to get a better understanding of where problems are breaking out and find out straight away where the nearest US embassies and military installations are.

As the main aim is to monitor what's being said, the FBI is hoping to locate and get a grip of crises as they're happening, but there's also a large focus on predicting problems before they occur, which makes us think back to the supposed online planning that went on before the riots here in London.

Other than details from the document there's been no official word from the FBI about its social media plans and monitoring ideas moving forward. The thing that we're most interested to see is whether the bureau will be given any access to private updates and posts on the likes of Facebook and Twitter, even though we doubt that social networks would cave to the FBI's demands it could be something that shifts in the future. On the one hand it may seem intrusive, but if global security is threatened would you really mind if someone was peering at your private Facebook updates about nights out now and again?

[Via New Scientist]

The online personalities we've created for ourselves nowadays may be much more realistic than they were back in the Myspace years (I know I'm not the only one guilty of posing, applying tonnes of make-up and Photohopping EVERYTHING, right?!), but even now they're still not completely accurate representations of our real lives. After all, you can't possibly express everything that happens from day-to-day online! So although someone may seem to have only the most idyllic, fun-loving, photos and status updates on Facebook, that doesn't mean every second of their life is filled with holidays, gorgeous friends and lovely clothes.

Although I'm sure we're all well aware of this, it's sometimes hard to not feel a little envious of that blogger with the designer wardrobe, time to cook cupcakes every night and a seemingly perfect job. But that green-eyed 'Facebook envy' feeling is only natural, right?

Well, a new study conducted by a team of sociologists at the Utah Valley University found that the way we view our lives and ourselves could very much be dependent on how much time we spend online, which is hardly good news for those of us who need to constantly check social media a lot as part of our jobs...

The research took around 400 students and asked them a series of statements about their lives, such as "life is fair" or "many of my friends have a better life than me". They were then asked all kinds of questions about Facebook, including how much time they spend on the social network, to see if there was any correlation.

The team soon found a pattern in that those who spend more time on Facebook start to think other people have a much better life than they do, which is a little worrying, but hardly surprising.

Two members of the team, Hui-Tzu Grace Chou and Nicholas Edge said:

"Those who have used Facebook longer agreed more that others were happier, and agreed less that life is fair, and those spending more time on Facebook each week agreed more that others were happier and had better lives. Furthermore, those that included more people whom they did not personally know as their Facebook "friends" agreed more that others had better lives."

It's sad to think that browsing through the lives of your friends could have a negative impact on how you view yourself and your little place in the world. But, although in many ways the likes of Facebook and Twitter mean our online and offline lives are more closely connected than ever before, you still need to remember that photos, status updates and seemingly perfect lives can be tweaked, exaggerated and manufactured. The quicker you realise that and tear yourself away from the computer the happier you'll be - which sounds easy in theory...

[Via Digital Trends]

Ahh Pinterest, we've professed our love for the quirky virtual pin board website many times in the past, but over the last few weeks it's gained a huge following very very quickly.

It's always had a fairly active community, but now everyone (and we mean everyone) has woken up to the site. If you don't believe us, then log into that Pinterest account you registered then swiftly abandoned a few months back and we bet you've had a sudden influx of new followers, despite the fact you have no idea what 'pinning' really is.

There's been a lot of speculation about why Pinterest has become such a big hit, but whether it's due to the fact it's been featured on a tonne of "networks to try in the new year" lists, because the site has started giving out more invites, or everyone's decided to follow our social media resolutions for 2012 (we know this is the real reason), there's no hiding from it.

What is it?

Pinterest is best described as a "virtual pinboard", so you collect content you've found from across the web and then "pin" it to different boards. You can create as many different boards as you like (like say "Tattoos" or "Travel), attach as many pins as you want to them and then browse the boards of others.

Why does it rock?

The 'Pin It' button that you can add to your browser makes pinning all kinds of images and photo content really easy. Once you've done it for a few days it'll come as second nature when you see anything that interests or inspires you.

You can use it however you please. Even though many non-users make fun of Pinterest for being all about cute things and crafts, there are really no limits to how you can use it, and as more and more users sign up, the content added by the whole community gets even more diverse.

It's so easy to re-pin content that others have uploaded. Although we wouldn't advise you only re-publish images from other people, Pinterest makes it so easy to share among the community.

You can tag, like and comment among the community, which makes it a great place to share ideas, find relevant content and make connections with those who have similar interests.

It has a simple and intuitive interface, which puts great looking content at the centre of the site and doesn't waste any space or fuss on unnecessary details.

How do I get started?

It's pretty simple, which is another reason we think it's just so awesome. Once you've signed up for an account, added your details and uploaded a photo, you need to start making boards.

To add boards, simply click "add" in the top right hand corner and go to "create a board". This is where you can give your board a name, a category and then decide whether it's just you who can pin to it or other contributors.

To add pins you need the "Pin It" button and then as soon as you see an image you want to pin you simply press that, select the right image, select the right board, add some tags and then decide whether you want to share it with your Facebook or Twitter followers.

To find the right images, it's best to name boards and tag pins in an explicit way. However, sometimes a board called "Eats & Treats" is much more fun than one just called "Desserts".

To search for content or people, use the "search" bar in the top left hand corner and you can find other users, pins and you can even search within your own pins too.

Related: Pinterest: Is it just full of crafts, cookies and kittens?

The new year isn't just about throwing out your Christmas tree and eating a few salads to make up for all the mince pies you stuffed your face with. If you really want to be more happy and efficient in 2012 you're going to need to give your online life a bit of a tidy up too.

Here are a few online ideas to make this year the best yet, after all, you should never under-estimate the impact a messy email inbox or an annoying Facebook friend can have on your happiness!

1. Use Pinterest to keep all your favourite images safe and organised

Every time you see an image online that interests or inspires you what do you do with it? Sure you can save it to your computer, but what if you want to reference it later? Or find similar images from the same blogger?

Pinterest allows you to 'pin' content to virtual boards, so you can collect together all kinds of images, keep them super organised and then share them with your friends. This is invaluable for making collections of photos that inspire you, creating mood boards or storing pictures you want to use in blog posts at a later date.

Of course you don't have to use Pinterest, but find an image curating and bookmarking tool that lets you add a bookmarklet to your browser so you're much more likely to actually use it!

2. Clear out your Google Reader

If you actively use Google Reader (or any other RSS reading tool), then chances are you've been collecting together lots of interesting sites and blogs over the past few years.

However, this means that sometimes you can wake up with 1000+ unread articles that you're never going to get round to reading. So sort through your Google Reader and if a blog isn't useful, interesting or inspiring to you anymore, then unsubscribe.

3. Get rid of Facebook and Twitter 'friends' that wind you up/annoy you/just aren't relevant

How many times have you heard someone say they hate Facebook or Twitter? Really they don't hate the social network (not usually anyway), but they're sick of friends and followers who post boring and irrelevant updates.

I think we've all gotten over the fact we get unfriended and unfollowed from time to time, so just bite the bullet and get rid of anyone who writes anything that's annoying or offensive.

Yes it sounds a bit harsh, but you'll start to find more interesting content, connect with the people that matter and see Twitter and Facebook as useful rather than just time suckers.

4. Find the blogging platform that suits you...

In our opinion if you want to write lengthy posts and use an intuitive interface then Wordpress should be your new BFF. If you prefer short pieces of content that's SUPER easy to publish then try Tumblr. Or, if you want to try something new and love big, beautiful images then try Jux. It doesn't matter which you choose, just set up an account and get blogging!

5. ...then actually use it to blog

It's easy to set up a blog, make it look lovely and write that witty, engaging and all important 'about' page, but then you need to actually write something and keep it up throughout the year.

Unless you blog for your day job, for many blogging should be a retreat from the big nasty world of work. However, approaching a blog as "just a bit of fun" often means many people don't keep it up or stay disciplined. Therefore, don't make it a chore but schedule in some time each week to make sure you've got something to publish.

6. Don't waste away the day stalking and aimlessly browsing

We waste an insane amount of time stalking old photos and scrolling through tweets. If you're still finding yourself getting distracted after culling a whole load of people, then read our post about how to stop procrastinating online and get blocking those time sucking websites.

7. Embrace a new network or cool app

You're probably thinking that you can't squeeze another social network into your day, but you may find you like something much more than what you're using at the moment. If you haven't tried them already check out some of our favourites, Instagram, Path and Google+.

8. Get the new Facebook timeline and sort through it

Everyone should be able to activate the new Facebook timeline by now, so go get it and sort through your old stories and any embarrassing photos you don't want anyone to see.

9. Organise your Twitter followers into lists

If you're following lots of people, sorting them into lists can take so long, but it's worth it in the long run and makes Twitter so much easier to digest once you're done.

10. Unsubscribe from emails and updates you don't need

If you've bought anything online, chances are you've been forced into getting a newsletter at some point or getting updates from social networks or discount websites. Instead of just deleting these annoying emails every morning force yourself to unsubscribe.

[Image via Pinterest]

Although using social media can be a great way to catch up with friends and switch off, many of us use it as part of our jobs, so it can sometimes feel a bit too much like work to tweet and update and snap filter-y photos when we're trying to get away from it all and have a holiday.

So how many of you will be having a social media blackout this Christmas?

Well according to stats from Sky over the past few years, people are less likely to be online over Christmas but do love to watch TV. No surprises there really, we like to replace mundane tweets with mundane TV.

Sky Broadband reports that both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day have 27% lower peak traffic than on an average week day, and the total data downloaded is 20% lower than an average weekend day, which means it's usually the internet's quietest period of the year.

In contrast, figures from Sky TV show that we remain a nation of TV lovers during the festive period, with Christmas Day being the most popular day of the year in terms of watching the telly.

It'll be interesting to see whether these stats change year upon year as more people give internet connected gadgets to one another, or as watching content online as a family becomes even more popular.

It's crazy that so many brands are desperately trying to bump up their Twitter and Facebook numbers when in actual fact a small pomeranian dog will probably always have a much larger following than most of them combined. Here are our top 10 internet animals of the year, some are extremely popular, some are laugh out loud funny and others are just a bit weird.

1. Boo

The most popular dog on the internet, Boo the pomeranian has well over two million fans on Facebook and there's even been a plush toy made of him and a book written about his life. He's really made it.

2. Cookie the laughing penguin

The cutest little penguin you ever did see.

3. Maru

Maru loves boxes and bags and small spaces. He's probably the cutest cat we've ever seen. And the craziest of course.

4. Cheeky cat

Not as much of an online personality as the others on the list, but this has got to be one of the best cat videos of the year.

5. Raccoon Willie

A weird little raccoon that's made friends with humans. Check out the YouTube channel for more videos.

6. Beast

The Facebook page for Mark Zuckerberg's dog, Beast.

7. Bully cat

Another brilliant cat video.

8. Fenton

We get that the Fenton/Benton video is hilarious, but we can't quite believe how HUGE it's become all over the world, with coverage of the video on major news outlets and a whole range of parody videos.

9. Guilty cat

We only recently came across this video on Buzzfeed's list of the most important cats of 2011 and felt the guilty cat deserved a place on this list. That look is PRICELESS.

10. Sockington

There's nothing particularly weird or unusual about Sockington, but he tweets a lot so has amassed more than 1.4 million Twitter followers.

When question and answer community Quora launched to the general public last year, social media geeks were calling it the 'next big thing' and now just over a year later a select few are admittedly still dedicated fans, but most of us have forgotten all about it.

Now in an attempt to make it relevant to a wider audience, Quora is becoming much more like a curation tool than a simple question and answer website. Yesterday Quora Boards was launched, which gives users the means to curate posts from Quora and content from round the web and then save it to a board. Sound familiar? Well yep, that's because one of our favourite sites, Pinterest, uses boards as a way for users to bookmark things too, but from what we can tell Pinterest is much more visual and Quora Boards will allow users to curate all kinds of content.

Just like on Pinterest too, these boards can be public or private and you can have multiple users adding content to each board if you'd like. There's also room for descriptions and comments under the boards too to spark discussions and further sharing.

Don't worry if you're one of the few that loves Quora just how it is, all the regular functionality will still be the same, Quora Boards is just an interesting new add-on. Although, judging from initial responses, dedicated users are worried the new feature could mean the site is full of rubbish content instead of more exclusive, valuable conversations. Only time will tell whether Quora Boards is any good, but it's risky changing the focus so much, although it may draw more people in, the changes could in turn drive the site's biggest advocates away.

[Via All Things D]

If you've got something to share with your significant other you'd usually text them, email them or DM them on Twitter, right? Well, a new app and social network called Between wants to give you a special little virtual place to cosy up to your girl/boy instead of having to contact them through other channels. It sounds kind of sweet, but is it also utterly pointless?

Between is what you'd imagine, like a mini Facebook just for you and your partner where you can share content, photo albums and memories (awh), all you need to do is enter their phone number into the app and you can start sharing.

According to The Next Web, the minds behind Between are mainly targeting Asian users, who (judging from behaviour on social networks) are a little more uncomfortable about sharing personal details online than us party-loving Brits. Therefore the app has been released in English, Japanese, Chinese and Korean in recent months. And, although it may seem very twee and stupid to some people, the 62,000 who have downloaded it and are actively using it worldwide would probably disagree.

It kind of makes sense that an app which encourages couples to communicate more would be healthy for modern day relationships, after all if women's glossy magazines are anything to go by (probably not), lack of communication is one of the main reasons happy couples break up. However, if you're already content with emailing, texting, DMing, Facetiming, Skyping or calling (we could go on and on here) your significant other, then we're not sure Between will crowbar its way into your daily routine.

Between is available from both iTunes and the Android Market for free.

[Via The Next Web]