Avocado allows couples to:

• Communicate using free and fast messaging.
• Share photos, collect moments and create a shared gallery.
• Build a library of your favorite personal expressions to easily resend over and over.
• Send emoticons with ‘funny face’ headshots that only one person understands and loves.
• Selectively share photos to Twitter as a couple.
• Share lists for everything from weekly groceries to new date ideas.
• Build a complete archive of a relationship for walks down memory lane.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Oasis

Oasis Fashion Pinterest

• 32 Boards
• 963 Pins
• 0 Likes
• 1,600 Followers
• 120 Following

The majority of Oasis’ Pinterest boards have the prefix ‘Oasis Loves…’ and then items such as ‘animal print’ and ‘peplums’. With over 900 pins the brand has built up a nice collection of images and a decent following.

Harvey Nichols

Harvey Nichols Pinterest

• 26 Boards
• 2,064 Pins
• 141 Likes
• 2,079 Followers
• 170 Following

Harvey Nichols have created a variety of boards to appeal to everyone. From nail art to the latest fashion trends to Milan menswear.

ASOS

ASOS Pinterest

• 13 Boards
• 1,425 Pins
• 26 Likes
• 24,648 Followers
• 121 Following

The majority boards, much like Oasis, have the title ‘ASOS <3′s:’ and then interests such as nail art, festivals and celebrities. They have used more content than just the items they sell.

ASOS Marketplace

ASOS Marketplace Pinterest

• 14 Boards
• 2,617 Pins
• 936 Likes
• 4,024 Followers
• 142 Following

ASOS Marketplace has a stronger focus on vintage clothes and menswear.

ASOS Menswear

ASOS Menswear Pinterest

• 4 Boards
• 88 Pins
• 0 Likes
• 410 Followers
• 10 Following

ASOS even created an account specifically for men. However, they clearly soon decided this was not worth while as it contains very little content, only 4 boards, one of which doesn’t have any pins.

Schuh Shoes

Schuh Shoes Pinterest

• 17 Boards
• 615 Pins
• 7 Likes
• 659 Followers
• 75 Following

Schuh’s content is far more diverse than the others. Even though they only sell shoes they embrace their edgy persona and have created boards such as ‘Don’t fear the creeper’, ‘Cats in Schuh bags’ and ‘Brand imagery we <3′. This account is definitely worth a follow.

Missguided

Missguided Pinterest

• 45 Boards
• 1,254 Pins
• 93 Likes
• 5,925 Followers
• 110 Following

The Missguided account is fun and girly. They have a range of boards to organise different season trends, hunks, photo shoots and more.

Feelunique.com

Feelunique.com Pinterest

• 33 Boards
• 750 Pins
• 32 Likes
• 1,017 Followers
• 45 Following

Feelunique.com is a beauty and health retailer so they focus on nail art, hair designs, make up tips and celeb looks.

Joy

Joy Pinterest

• 8 Boards
• 74 Pins
• 0 Likes
• 212 Followers
• 55 Following

Joy’s account is a bit smaller than the others but they have a nice collection of pins of their own products and cute animals, of course!

Stylist Magazine

Stylist Magazine Pinterest

• 27 Boards
• 969 Pins
• 5 Likes
• 5,384 Followers
• 26 Following

Stylist magazine is a free weekly women’s magazine so they obviously have a lot of their own content. Their pins include fashion, beauty, careers, current affairs, food, and fun stuff they love.

Emerald Street

Emerald Street Pinterest

• 7 Boards
• 65 Pins
• 4 Likes
• 656 Followers
• 5 Following

Emerald Street has less content and seem to have just created a Pinterest account because they thought they had to. However, they have potential to build a successful Pinterest account similar to Stylist.

Glamour Magazine UK

Glamour Magazine UK Pinterest

• 35 Boards
• 887 Pins
• 1 Like
• 5,669 Followers
• 23 Following

Glamour magazine have built up a great range of content covering all interests that their audience would like.

Company Magazine

Company Magazine Pinterest

• 20 Boards
• 334 Pins
• 19 Likes
• 3,285 Followers
• 135 Following

Similar to the Glamour magazine, Company has a wide range of boards and pins but they also have a ‘Blog posts we love’ board.

Cosmopolitan

Cosmopolitan Pinterest

• 21 Boards
• 1,602 Pins
• 159 Likes
• 63,428 Followers
• 21 Following

Cosmopolitan is a worldwide account and cover all range of topics with their boards, from ‘Cosmo cocktails’ to ‘Fun Fearless Fashion’.

Cosmopolitan UK

Cosmopolitan UK Pinterest

• 30 Boards
• 561 Pins
• 40 Likes
• 3,118 Followers
• 56 Following

Although they don’t have quite as much content as Cosmopolitan, they still have a wide range of boards, from ‘Cocktails’ to ‘Cosmosutra’.

My Verdict

My favourite Pinterest accounts are ASOS, Stylist and Schuh due to the amount of content and how well targeted it is for their audience. If there are any other brands on Pinterest that you think I’ve missed, just comment below and tell me

One thing that still amazes me about social media, and what some people still don’t get, is the vast array or platforms, apps, communities and tools that the term encompasses. The rise of niche, interest based social networks is something that really interests me but I struggle to keep up with. It is simply not possible to be a part of every social network. So what I have decided to do is focus my blog and this is how…

As I discover new social apps and platforms I will use and review the ones that catch my eye. I have reviewed new social media before but now this will be my main aim. I hope you all find this useful!

A Very Merry Instagram Christmas

Instagram ALL The Christmas Things

It is no secret that I LOVE all things Christmas related. So when I see pretty Christmas lights, trees, gifts, jumpers, what did I do before I had Instagram to share these pretty sights with the world? The best way to spread Christmas cheer is to Instagram every Christmas light you see. This is also very true for another passion of mine, nail art. So now I can share it with the world on my blog, Stamp Nail Art, via Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, Google Plus and Twitter.

All I want for Christmas is on Pinterest

In my last blog post I discussed how to use Pinterest for the best Christmas ever. Part of this was by using a board as your Christmas list so others can see it, whether they are members of the site or not, and they’ll have direct links to the source of the items you like. Alternatively, and more subtly, you can just look at a person’s boards to get a general idea of what they like.

Pinterest Secret Shopping List

As I also said in my last blog post, the introduction of Pinterest secret boards is a very welcome addition for the festive season. I created a secret board for all of my Christmas shopping, I pinned gift ideas I found online so I could then use the link to buy them or use my board as a visual list to go real life shopping.

Location Based Christmas

This year I have been on the hunt for mulled wine in Edinburgh. Each time I find some mulled wine, I check in on Yelp or Foursquare and leave a tip to inform others of my discoveries.

RIP Christmas Cards?

Some people will love this, some will hate it, I’m in between. Personally, I think nothing beats receiving a real hand written Christmas card through the post. I will always write and post Christmas cards. Social media allows us to go that one step further though, obviously all of the hundreds of people I am connected with on Facebook and Twitter and not my closest friends, so while I won’t send them all cards, it is still nice to be able to wish them a merry Christmas online.

Weather reports

No need to watch the weather forecast or even look out your window, EVERYONE will tell you on social media, whether you like it or not, the second a single snowflake drops.

Where has the mystery gone?

With the ever increasing integration of platforms across the internet, it can be tricky to discreetly do your Christmas shopping online but ensure that the items you are looking at or buying are not accidentally ‘liked’ and this news pushed to one of your profiles for the gift recipient to see.

Track Santa

This is a magical idea to keep the belief of Santa alive in children. They can follow Santa online or you can also download the app and track him from your mobile phone, a fun idea for Christmas eve. It’s good to see Mr Claus is keeping up with modern technology! So as Buddy the Elf said, ‘The best way to spread Christmas Cheer, is singing loud for all to hear’, so take his advice and sing, online, offline, everywhere! HAPPY CHRISTMAS!!

Until Next Christmas…

Those who know me, know that I love Christmas. I have multiple Christmas jumpers, socks, decorations, the lot. Even my nails are super festive. This year, I have been using more social media platforms than ever and I now cannot imagine the festive season without Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, LoveIt and Instagram. They genuinely help me be more social, organising and attending real life events, sharing festive pictures, organising buying gifts, and generally keeping in touch with people.

Merry Christmas!

Gone are the days of hand writing your Christmas list and posting it to the North Pole (apologies if any children are reading this), this year Santa is looking at Pinterest. Pinning items you see online is the ever so unsubtle way of telling those around you what you want.

The best thing is that Pinterest’s simple functionality means that anyone can use it – even people who aren’t very internet or social media savvy can easily get the hang of it. Once you have a Pinterest account and have added the Pin It button to your browser, the Internet is your Christmas oyster!

So here is my guide for how to get the most out of using Pinterest during the festive season…

Plan Christmas Dinner

Preparing and cooking Christmas dinner is never a simple task, so here is how you can use Pinterest to make the process easier:

• Create a Christmas food board.
• Pin inspiring food idea for buffets, starts, main courses, puddings, and so on.
• Pin recipes so they are all stored in one place, easy to access and refer back to.
• Pin ideas for table decorations, homemade crackers, etc.

Christmas Decorations and Crafts

Fancy trying something different when decorating your home and tree this year? Pinterest is full of ideas, whether you fancy making them from scratch or just want some inspiration to display the decorations you have.

If making them from scratch then they can also double up as gift ideas as I did last year.

Your Christmas List

This is not only for your benefit, but those around you. There are two ways of doing this; either advise your loved ones to look at your Pinterest boards from ideas of what to get you for Christmas, or blatantly create your own Christmas list board and send the link to your family/friends.

Secret Christmas Gift Ideas for Family/Friends

Thankfully Pinterest have recently launched ‘secret boards’ ready for the festive period. This is a great way to collect together ideas for presents for others but without them seeing them. You can even give someone else, such as a sibling, access to the board so you can collect ideas together.

Christmas Party Planning

Whether you have an abundance of Christmas parties to attend, or you’re throwing one yourself, Pinterest can be used to get inspiration and plan the lot:

• Party outfit and make up inspiration
• Decoration ideas for throwing a festive shindig
• Simple party food and festive drinks ideas

Make Yourself Christmassy

I couldn’t finish this blog post without a mention of Christmas jumpers or nail art. Pinterest is a great source of inspiration for my Stamp Nail Art blog, but especially during the festive season. I am also a huge fan of Christmas jumpers, so although I can’t buy ALL the jumpers I see, at least I can pin them for future reference.

So what are you waiting for? With only 1 month and 6 days until Christmas day you better get pinning and planning!

As Shpock is available in German and English, I thought this might be a German word, but it’s not. Shpock comes from “SHop in your POCKet”. For this reason I don’t think it is a wise choice of name; “Hey, have you tried out Shpock?”, “What’s spock?”, “No, Shpock?”, “Have I tried your sock?” and so on.

With recession after recession, and the revival of charity shops and vintage chic, this app looks to be bringing the jumble sale into the modern age of digital.

Once you’ve downloaded the app, the only way to register is using your Facebook account. A smart move, not only to make it easier for the user, but also to reduce fraud and increase likelihood of genuine sellers. Then you can browse what is on offer… Its simplicity is definitely a redeeming feature. You take a photo of what it is you want to sell, here, in this example, this user is trying to sell a glass of water for 100GBP:

The price of water

I wasn’t sure if this water was worth that amount, so I asked for more information  This is quick and easy to do and gave me a fast response.

Although I didn’t end up buying the glass of water, I still found the app to be very user friendly and maybe I will buy something using it one day, if there is actually anything worth purchasing.

The competition

An alternative e-commerce site is ShopLocket. This platform claim the following to be what makes them different:

• No storefront
• No upfront fees
• No risk
• You and your friends can embed your products anywhere

As products become more disposable, making it easy for people to sell their existing clothes and other items can only be a good thing.

My verdict

I do see a future for these apps. Amazon offer new and used books, eBay offers everything, so a new app would have to offer something unique in order to disrupt the market. Shpock’s simple, user friendly design is attractive. Although I haven’t warmed to the name, maybe it does make sense, a quick and easy to use shop in my pocket (or hand bag).

Loving it in front of Edinburgh Castle

 Why I Love It…

• You can very easily import all of your Pinterest pins to your LoveIt profile.
• They are very chatty and interactive on other social platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Google+.
• They kindly sent me a pretty LoveIt tshirt (above).
• The platform is pretty, fresh and easy to use. Very like Pinterest, but possibly a bit more user friendly.
• Their grey squirrel and pink acorn logo.
• You can create private boards that no one else can see.

My full review of LoveIt can be read here. Will you be using LoveIt or sticking with Pinterest?

Yes, I know everyone and their dog has written a blog post about Pinterest, but I couldn’t help but voice my opinion. I love it; my name is Jennie and I think I might be addicted to Pinterest, there I said it. But even with true love, things are not perfect, Pinterest and its users have their faults. To be honest I did think the novelty would wear off. But it hasn’t! And I see a future together with it.

• When i buy my own house – Home ideas
• When (if) I get engaged – Wedding planning
• When (if) I get pregnant – Advice, nursery decor, baby clothes etc.
• Inspiration for holidays – Dream destinations and realistic options
• Continuous source for recipes – Sharing my own and finding others

So I think Pinterest is a bit like Marmite, you either totally get it and love it, or think it is spawned from the devil and don’t like it (I’m a lover by the way). So I think you either get the concept of Pinterest or you don’t. Which is fine. If you don’t get it or see the point in using it, then don’t use it. But if you do, then embrace it. Go wild!

What is Pinterest?

Let’s get back to basics…

Satisfy the Urge

This may come as a surprise but I LOVE shopping! I just can’t resist going shopping, but more often than not, the urge is out my system once I’ve bought something and the next day I have changed my mind and return it. Since I found Pinterest, I have found this to be a relief mechanism for this urge. If I pin a pretty pair of shoes, then in a way it is as if I have them, so I don’t need to go and physically buy them. My Style board is like my virtual wardrobe.

So for this reason, I think Pinterest is literally saving me money! (OK, that might be pushing it).

Hint, Hint

Scenario…

Girl: “Oh did you see those beautiful shoes I pinned? Aren’t they so pretty.” What she really means: “Look at those shoes, I love them, take the hint and get them for me for my birthday”. Maybe, by providing these subtle hints by displaying all the things we like on a public platform online, this is in fact very kind of us to help you understand us better, spelling it out… this is what we like.

So for this reason, I think Pinterest is helping me to help others. Making me a kinder person.

Inspiration

Whether I’m thinking about getting a new tattoo, some home improvements, a new craft project, baking, whatever it may be, Pinterest is my source of inspiration. My other blog, Stamp Nail Art, originated from ideas I found on Pinterest. I love painting my nails and I started getting new ideas of alternative ways to decorate my nails, so I created a new blog to display my work and I also pin the images of my nails to share with others.

So for this reason, I think Pinterest is a fantastic source of inspiration for almost anything.

Fantasy World

Is this true, Pinterest is full of crazy women? Is it harmless escapism or ill advised, delusional dreaming? I think there is no harm in dreaming. If I want to dream of having a swimming pool in my second home in the south of France then where is the harm in that? But what about the women who pin wedding dresses but don’t even have a partner? Well there is an ongoing stereotypical joke in American chick flicks that all women have had a wedding scrap book since they were ten years old. I have always wanted to get married, but I didn’t do this. Now I see beautiful wedding dresses on Pinterest and want to pin them, I did have a wedding dress board but I deleted it for three reasons: 1) My boyfriend at the time didn’t want to get married, 2) People assumed I was engaged, 3) This might have looked a bit crazy to prospective future boyfriends if they saw it.

So for this reason, I think Pinterest is a borderline bunny boiler haven.

OCD?

I often wonder where the line is. I love Pinterest for organising my life, but where do I stop? Should I use Pinterest to oranise my wardrobe, choose an outfit for a night out? I’m not doctor, so I’m not sure whether it is good to encourage OCD tendencies or not, but I am happiest when I’m organised and everything is in its right place. But what about the people at the extreme end of the OCD spectrum?

So for this reason, I think Pinterest could be a danger to your health.

Now we’ve looked at the reasons people use Pinterest, who is it that is using it?

The Sharing/Caring Type

Pinterest inspires sharing. Whether it be boasting or in a good samaritan sense. It is in our human nature to want to share things with other people, so pinning is not just about increasing my collection on my own boards, but also sharing what I’ve found with others.

So for this reason, I think Pinterest is helping human evolution.

Types of Pinners

• Lurkers – Those users who just look at other people’s pretty pins.
• Repinners – Those who just repin other people’s content.
• Pin creators – Those who pin their own original content.

I am a mixture of the latter two. I definitely couldn’t just look at pins and not repin. That is like looking at a menu when you’re starving but not eating anything.

So for this reason, I think Pinterest is defining us as people.

What’s the problem?

Like any relationship made from true love, Pinterest isn’t perfect but I still love it, a lot.

As a dedicated Pinterest user, and a bit of a geek, one issue that I have is the lack of analytics. You create a masterpiece, pin it to Pinterest, then what? I pin a lot of my nail art, make up designs, and baking to Pinterest, so I want to see who and how often it is repinned and liked.

Am I asking for too much, should I expect Pinterest to change or should I change? I’ve been dabbling in Pinerly, a tool specifically designed for Pinterest analytics. I like it but I’m all for an easy life, if Pinterest could just add Facebook style analytics to their platforms then I would be very happy.

For now, I am content with this relationship. We have an adequate give/take ratio, so for now this honeymoon period continues.

What are your views of Pinterest? Love or Hate?

What would couples achieve from this that they can’t get from other methods of communication?

The original title of this blog post, before I had explored the app, was ‘Sad Side of Social’. This obviously changed and this article will explain why.

My initial thoughts

Private networks built specifically for couples are apparently the latest social media fad. My first question was can this really be classed as social media? You are being social, but only with one person, no one else can see what you are saying or doing, it is exclusively for the two of you. Is this maybe more anti-social?

Maybe if your relationship is long distance, this could be a good idea. An alternate form of communication. But is it really necessary? There are many other ways to send a quick ‘I love you’ message or that cute photo of that thing that means so much to you both, but no one else would get because it is an ‘in joke’ between the two of you. Other options currently available include:

• Whats App
• Texting
• Phone calls
• Email
• Twitter DMs
• Facebook messages
• Writing a letter (remember them?)
• Etc., etc., etc.

Maybe I’m being too cynical.

The app for lovers

So after my initial thoughts were written down. I explored it further.

Let me introduce you to Between… “A mobile service that provides a secret place for lovers to communicate and keep their precious moments. Get started with taht special person right now”. I bet you just threw up a little didn’t you? Well I did too, hence my original title. But I couldn’t shoot it down without actually using it. I downloaded the app, purely for research purposes, and this what what I found:

Once downloaded, this was the first screen upon opening it. The fact that you have to enter in a ‘nickname’ and your gender instantly made it look more like a dating app. My sceptical side remained strong at this point.

Next, I realise that I can’t carry out this research alone, my other half needs to be involved. Makes sense seeing as it’s a ‘couples app’. So after he agreed to partake in my research, I entered in our phone numbers and we continued to the next level.

Now we are ‘Connected!!’ Do I feel like our relationship has been taken to the next level? Is it as big a deal or adding him as my other half on Facebook? No, it’s not. But it does seem quite sweet, our own little private world. I shudder again as I can feel myself being sucked into the ‘Between’ world. Notice the little love heart skipping along the time line as we get closer to completing our Between initiation. I feel a warm glow inside (not really, but it did seem an appropriate thing to say at this point). ‘Have a wonderful Between ’ they say as we skip off into the virtual sunset together.

So, this is it. Where do we begin? Who makes the first move?

We add a photo of ourselves, an awful drunken one which I had to question where it was taken, but still a nice memory of happy times. We added a meaningful date, and the app calculates how long since that date.

As my other half and I weren’t in the same vicinity, we kept on using the app, chatting to each other, adding a couple photos etc.

Privacy Issues

In an interview with TNW, Between stressed the point that as there has been much publicity surrounding privacy issues with Facebook and Twitter, they see Between as a private way to share things with your loved one, without your boss, parents, ex partners, etc being in the same space and seeing.

Competition for your heart

Pair, launched after Between, has been labelled as Path for couples. I didn’t subscribe to this app, so I can’t really comment. But clearly this is becoming a competitive market. Embracing the social world when privacy issues are rife.

Times Change

Now at this point in writing my blog post, my feelings changed. No, not towards my boyfriend, but towards the app. I cringe whilst saying this, but I like it!

I am a girly girl; I like pink, flowers and hearts. So this app is cute, I can’t deny it. With little hearts with each notification. But the main colour scheme is blue (or aqua from a girl’s perspective) obviously a ploy for girls to convince their boyfriends/husbands to use it. The love hearts are subtle, not garish big pink things.

The big question; will we keep on using it? Well in the last few hours since its creation, I am still undecided. It is a sweet idea and maybe we will have a chat in the app every now and again. Or it could be a nice way to store those pics of those special moments, maybe not. When there are so many other methods of communication, will we even remember to use this one? Time will tell.

What is your opinion, would you use it? Or do you think it is cringe-worthy and unnecessary?

YONO... ROFN

I was introduced to @WeirdHorse by my lovely friend, @iamsarapdot, and it was love at first tweet. It may come as a bit of a surprise to some of you, but I definitely have a bit of a geeky side to my personality and this twitter account (or horse) definitely satisfies it.

Since I first found the horse, my eyes have been opened to many more funny animals on who are active on social media. From the fairly innocent horse, to the outrageous fox. There is an animal for everyone.

Here is my run down (in no particular order) of the most entertaining social creatures…

@WeirdHorse (Owned by @BaffledFarmer)

His crazy ramblings about life on the farm crack me up every day.

His existence seems sad. He just wants to make friends and trot around happily, but he sometimes accidentally kills creatures.

I have seen his personality change over the past few months. He started off being very evil, then at some point he changed, his Twitter bio then read ‘I is nice now’. Obviously his grammar is poor, but he is a horse, so what do you expect?

When he recently gave a rare interview with the Huffington Post, I just about neighed with delight and excitement. He explained; ”No I not [weird]. I definitely not. It not normal to kick things at pigs but I not weird. I only sound weird because I talk. I saw a horse burp up a hedgehog once and horses can’t even burp so how weird is that. That not me, though. I suppose I just making most my of surroundings.”

Whoever created this account is a genius. He even has his own website where he sells mugs, t-shirts and calendars. Maybe not as stupid as he seems!

@MagpieManny

If magpies could speak, then this is probably exactly what they’d say. He likes all things shiny!

Who would have thought that the day-to-day life of a magpie could be so entertaining?

@OctoberJones (and Texts from Dog)

Is it a dog? Is it a man? No, it’s October Jones, and he receives ‘Texts from dog‘. His avatar is the dog that is texting, so he tweets these texts amongst other random things.

Recently there have been a lot of ‘wasp updates’:

The best bit of this account is definitely the texts he gets from his dog (also available on Facebook):

@SirPiggAlot

A rude pig, living up to the bad name that pigs have acquired. Pigs are my favourite animals and I do not think that if they spoke they would be so filthy!

@PigeonJon

Insight into the day to day life of a pigeon; why wouldn’t that be funny?!

I have recently found that he has an admirer; @Loved_Up_Dove.

He does what pigeons do, and justifies his reasons:

He learns new things:

He does stunts:

@FeralPete

A good mate of Jon Pigeon; enough said!

He likes jokes:

@GusTheFox

Last but by no means least, I give you Gus the Fox… If you are easily offended, then I advise strongly that you look away now! He is a sinister creature, I mean he murdered his gran for a start!

He meets people:

Daily sweary observations:

The future…?

Is this a fad that will soon disappear? Probably. But until the next new idea makes an appearance, it is safe to say that I am entertained.

Unfortunately, @WeirdHorse is getting a little repetitive. In order to stay top in the game, you need to be edgy and funny to keep your followers. People can get bored easily, maybe this is one reason why Gus the Fox is so popular, each Tweet seems more shocking and outrageous than the last, therefore keeping our attention. Also, not forgetting the whole point of social media… to be social. The pigeons are good at this, as Feral Pete retweeted my response to him the other day, and they do respond to followers. However, the weird horse does not Despite my efforts to engage with him, his farmer did reply to me but that was as far as I got.

How far can these parody accounts really be taken? As you can now be arrested for calling someone a c*** on Twitter, what does the future hold for Gus the Fox who uses the ‘c word’ in every other tweet?

Until the next new social trend, let’s just let these animals brighten up our day with a giggle, even if it does seem inappropriate to do so. To see all of the above Twitter creatures and others in action, then check out my Twitter list: The Twitter Zoo, Enjoy! :)