2. Pin directly to the {correct} source. I love a good roundup post as much as the next girl, but click on those links and pin directly to the source instead. Bloggers and website creators work really hard to bring you awesome original content, make sure they are the ones getting pinned and credited for their hard work.
3. Permalink. You don’t want to pin something from So Wonderful, So Marvelous right to the main page of my blog. Why? Because as I add new content, it pushes the old content to the far reaches of the dusty corners of the cobwebby underbelly of the blog. So that fabulous recipe for Guiness Cupcakes is lost and people have to go searching. Instead, click on the post title, then pin from there. This is called a permalink. Lots of bloggers and websites have a handy dandy little ‘pin it’ button on their posts to make it ridiculously easy for you.
4. Check those re-pins! So we already covered pinning original content and how to create a permalink. Sometimes though there is awesome content that you want to re-pin, right? But before you click on that re-pin button, you should do this one thing. Follow the link. Does it lead to the correct place? If it does, great, REPIN. If not, find out where it should link to and pin directly from there rather than re-pinning. And for the love of all things holy, ‘report pin’ immediately anything that goes to something spammy.
5. Don’t copy and paste an entire post in the comment when you pin. This happens a lot with recipes. It creates a ridiculously large pin and it also deters people from clicking over. Decidedly not awesome for the person who actually created the work. A little snippet to let you and your followers know what it is or why you pinned it, that’s all you need.
6. Don’t steal someone else’s board. If you find a Pinterest board you love, follow it. You want to re-pin a few things that you love to your own board? Go for it. But don’t be that asshole that re-pins 80% of someone else’s board and call it your own. FYI, people can see when you re-pin 22 things from their board.
7. Promote awesome Pinners. I love finding new people and boards to follow. I follow people who have 32 followers and 4 million followers, awesomeness isn’t just a numbers game on Pinterest. There are so many fun things, you can find a board for anything your little heart desires. I love that I’m seeing a lot more dudes joining in on the fun too. Here are some crazy awesome {and a little weird} boards that I follow that I think you should too:
<<a Mini Farm is a dream the Davester has crushed so thank you Brandy for letting me live through your board>>
<<I challenge any girl from the 80s not to fall in love with Gina’s childhood>>
<<Heinz and his Zombie Apocalypse Prep>>
<<Nikki’s gorgeous Child Portrait Inspiration>>
<<Everything on Mara’s devour board makes me salivate>>
<<An entire board filled with Circus Make Up from Sarah>>
<<Squirrels ARE Magic, Zakary who is not a boy at all>>
<<The Perfect Palette and their perfect Place Settings>>
<<Crafts I’ll Never Do with Blair>>
<<Chelsea’s Kid Spaces>>
<<Caitlin’s collection of the most fabulous Doors>>
<<Stationery + Design from Nicole>>
Would love to know what you would add to the ‘how not to be an asshole on Pinterest’ list AND I want to know your favorite boards and pinners! Leave a comment!
I think the "stealing" boards thing is weird. I don't care at all if someone wants to go through my crap and repin everything. Why is that a big deal? It's stuff you want to save, not a contest to see who can come up with the best board.
ReplyDeleteWhy not just follow their board instead Amy?
ReplyDeleteThis is a great list. Although I've seen some really cool pins, I have to admit I haven't spent much time pinning on Pinterest since I first started and I didn't know any of those things then. I think when people first get on it's such a kid in a candy store feeling that they don't think things through. GREAT ADVICE!
ReplyDeleteBecause I barely go back and look at my boards! I just follow people to see the new things they pin. If I really want to remember something, I'll repin it. I agree with your other points, but I think some people just use pinterest differently.
ReplyDeleteGreat list!
ReplyDeleteHave to say I'm with Amy on #6, though-- especially for things like Birthday Party Boards. If someone wants to pin everything on my Very Hungry Caterpillar Board to their own, I couldn't care less. Like Amy, I never go back and look through the boards of people I follow-- I just follow them so their newest pins show up in my feed & if I'm looking for something specific, I search!
THANK YOU. You are so right on all these points!
ReplyDeleteAs to following the link before repinning, I've started to "like" the pin as I'm looking throughout the day on my phone and other times. Then, when I have a few minutes on my computer, I go through the likes and see which ones I really want to pin and which ones aren't as cool as I had thought. It really has helped me cultivate my boards in a more thoughtful way.
Wow, I know nothing about Pinterest. It just sounds like it would take hours to do anything. I think you've outlined some good tips here, should I ever find myself in need of something to do....HAHA (mommy wishful thinking)
ReplyDeleteTHANK YOU!!!!! More bloggers need to write posts like this so the word gets out! I hate going to repin and finding a tumblr blog or a spammy site ... grrrrr! PS I love secret boards now :)
ReplyDeleteI am a new follower!
THANK YOU for the comment about assholes that steal you boards!!!! Next to the porn users, nothing pisses me off more. Had to comment for the people who don't get it. For me, usually the offender is new, has less than 50 followers and jack shit to "share back" because they put no effort into their boards. A great Pinterest board, that many people want to follow and repin is a lot of time and effort because its carefully selected. Creativity usually taking months and duplicated in minutes. If Pinterest wanted you to take 100 plus pins from someone in one go, don't you think they would make a copy board or multiple pin function. Pinterest would be a boring place if everyone just duplicated each other. Agree with post above. Love the new secret boards and blocking function.
ReplyDeleteLate to the party here. Finally, someone mentions people who pin entire boards - my number one Pinterest pet peeve. I am 100% in agreement with the other anonymous commenter who agreed with point number 6. I spend a LOT of time (yes, I need a life) putting my boards together, whether it's finding original content or making sure links go back to the original source. Finding proper sourcing IS very time consuming if you look at how many pins out there go to Tumblr accounts, etc. It takes a lot of time and effort to create a great board. So, right or wrong, it ticks me off when I see I have 200 notifications, and 95% are from someone who is pinning every.single.pin. from one or more of my boards. The least they could do is follow the board if they like the pins so much. I have seen a few people who have copied my entire boards and then gone so far as to even give them the same name. First world problems, I know, but annoying nonetheless. Thanks for the opportunity to vent.
ReplyDeleteHi Again, Michelle - I suppose it's pointless to be commenting here since the post is several months old, but since you feel the same way I do about people repinning boards, I figured I'd find a sympathetic ear and comment anyway. (I am the second anonymous commenter above)... Do you know that there are people asking the Pinterest powers-that-be to introduce a feature to REPIN ENTIRE BOARDS? It looks like something they may be considering since it's on their proposed features page and they're letting people vote on it. I have to say, that would really upset me if they implement that, especially since they have removed the "originally pinned by" feature from the new layout. Speaking of which, I guess that's my new Pinterest Pet Peeve. My follower traffic has plummeted since they took that away.
ReplyDeleteI could not agree more about people repinning entire boards. Just had it happen to me (all 78 pins!), and she's even called her board the exact same thing as mine! So annoying.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree about the repinning of entire boards. It's sooo annoying that there are people that take the time to repin all your pins but won't even take the time to follow you. I have someone right now slowly going through ALL my boards, board by board repinning every one of my pins I slowly searched for...I feel violated!
ReplyDeleteI agree wholeheartedly. I love finding new boards from people with the same interests. I too need a life. It takes me a long time and then someone pins every single pin. I am spitting chips!
ReplyDeleteI know this is over a year old, but after reading the comments, I had to respond!
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry, but getting mad that someone has repinned half your board is like "Now! That's What I Call Music" getting mad that someone has taken half their compilation to make another compilation!
You didn't create most of the content on your board. You didn't make it private. I'm not going to come back to your board to track down the one pin or 200 pins I'm looking for - I'm going to go through your board once, take everything I like, and follow you (since I obviously love your taste)! I'm following tons of *strangers*! I never think about them again unless they are really active and showing up in my daily feed!
Everyone uses Pinterest differently. I use mine to find things I didn't know existed. It's not my job to pin new things for the world, it's my job to find things I like and want to keep track of. And I don't care how much effort your board took to build, anymore than I care how long Beyonce was in the studio before I sang her song for karaoke! Not.My.Problem! All I care about is the fact that you're very interesting, and some of your pins may need to go to a different board than I repinned all your other pins to.
For the people who feel their followings went down based on Pinterest changes... That's like indie musicians getting mad that MySpace isn't cool. Or Harvard students mad that Facebook is world-wide. I mean, really? Things change! Maybe you should find someone's "Business" or "Digital Marketing" board, and repin most of their stuff so you can go through the links at your leisure.
Oh, I found this blog *because* I was looking for the "Pin EVERYTHING" function! And I don't expect my other post to be approved, but I find it really "funny" that people have taken the time to create public boards, and then cry about people showing interest in those boards by repinning most of your "borrowed" content! There is actually a pin about such behavior *validating* your good taste! Seriously, people, just make your boards private, and keep them allllllllll to yourselves. It's that easy!
ReplyDeleteHi Anon,
ReplyDeleteSince we just 'met' you should know that I'm pretty open about comments even if they aren't in agreement with me. Anything over 2 weeks old is moderated because if not, the spammers go whackadoo.
Cheers!
Hi Michelle - Anon 13Mar!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the notice. And that's a brilliant tip for when I start my blog - moderating after 2wks! Glad we've 'met'!
Anonymous ... most of us complaining about our boards, and their titles being snatched pin for pin and verbatim, were pinning long before (and begging for) the option of having secret boards available on Pinterest. At first they gave us only three, and now we have as as many as we want, so it does behoove us to use this method for creating ... and 'creating' is not used lightly here, when one considers the search time, the thought and the imaginative energy expended on some of our boards. There was a time we couldn't even organize our boards alphabetically, or in a certain order ... and we still don't have the option of moving images around on the boards themselves for a more cohesive, artistic look, especially if it's a story-board. So yes, some of us may sound a little snippy about our boards being thanklessly usurped. Perhaps 'anon', your type of pinning wouldn't necessarily warrant a particularily artistic look, so you probably pin randomly here and there saving only what interests you, and I applaud your style and whatever makes you happy ... however, to me, when someone pins an entire board, title and all they more than likely want others to think it's their entire creation ... I've even had a few who have gone to the trouble to find a way to change all the pins as coming from themselves alone with, no history attached to the original images at all, at all. Silly to you maybe, but the time, patience, red eyes and swollen ankles I give and get for maintaining this creative endeavour means something to me, even if it doesn't to you. And, that my dear is what makes the world go 'round ... different strokes for different folks! So far eleven boards and six titles swiped. It's not that I don't like sharing or don't appreciated that others like what I've pinned, because I so do ... after all I pin from other's boards as well to make mine what they are, it's more in the way the sharing/copycatting is done without care and/or thoughtful consideration for the person who spent so much time curating the original board. And, after all is said and done I don't think Pinterest was meant to find out who could garner the most pins and followers, but was meant more as a place for sharing words and images with like minded souls here, and around the world!
ReplyDeleteOMGosh, it's just Pinterest! I couldn't care less who wants my pins!!!! Pin away!
ReplyDeleteCan we stop people from taking our boards--like to share , but grabbing others efforts completely is not share --it's take all --feels like theft to me
ReplyDeleteIf it get You upset people "pinching" Youre pics .. just make your boards private, and keep them to yourselves. It's that easy! Personaly I dont care .. pin or repin , do what ever You like . " My" Pinterest is open :)
ReplyDelete