How do you feel about all the Pinterest etiquette/drama/how-to's lately?
I read a good one the other day, I can't remember the site because it's not one I usually read. It was well-done, but I didn't agree with all of it. I don't feel like Pinterest will be the next google-image search, and I don't do it to get lots of followers, promote anything, or come up with inspiring design boards. I use it for me. As a visual bookmarking tool. For stuff I will actually do or refer to. I don't feel that I need to ad 'tags' to all of my pins to help the good of Pinterest. But I do try to pin responsibly. Here are some things I do that are general good Pinterest etiquette:
1. pin from the original source
So, if you see something awesome on Apartment Therapy, or any of the other countless design magazine-type blogs, take a second to click to the source, THEN pin it. It's fun to see what people are pinning from this blog, but I know that there are probably a few of 'my' pins that are pinned from Apartment Therapy and other people who have featured me. It would be fun to track that down, but I can't. (BTW, I added a new Pinterest button on my sidebar if you want to see what people are pinning from here).
2. pin from the actual post, not the site
This is easy to forget if you're scrolling through someone's blog, but it's frustrating to see an awesome pin, and click through to the site and not be able to find the actual post. If I really want to repin something and this is the situation, I'll take a minute to find the actual post, and correct it in my pin.
3. click through to the posts!
There's a couple of reasons for this:
1. it gives the person who came up with the idea/photo/whatever a little more traffic. If you keep up with your blog stats/traffic, this means a lot. It's a little pat on the back. Also, they might be awesome and you might find a cool new blog or friend even!
2. You know what you're pinning. I think often people just start repinning and don't ever click through - it's happened several times recently where I've looked at a pin from someone I follow and click through the link to find.... it's just a photo! Not a recipe at all! Or that cool 'diy silkscreen' pin... it's an advert for a class, it's not a tutorial. Did the person who pinned this ever check? Probably not. Or it's from stupid tumblr. Which brings me to #4:
4. Don't pin/repin from Tumblr or google images.
Now I'm sure there are exceptions, but nearly everything I see pinned from tumblr is kinda anonymous - it's nearly impossible to find it's original source. That's lame. There are some really popular pins out there with fab ideas and the right people aren't getting credit for that. I've found a few prints I've wanted to buy actually, and can't find where to buy them!
A similar situation, but I also don't subscribe/read blogs that are 'rebloggers'. There are so many blogs that just repost things that other people did. I'm not talking of one photo and a link to the actual post, or a guest feature or anything, I'm talking they post ALL of the photos from someone's blog post with their own words. Even if you link to the original site, this is LAME. It doesn't give readers a reason to click on over to the actual site.
5. Comment sometimes!
You know, when you click through. Say thanks! Or say hi. Say something.
6. Don't copy/paste from the blog into the description.
Instead of copying a whole recipe into the description, just type in 'yummy cake recipe'. You can click on over to ge the recipe. Typing the whole thing in gives pinners no reason to click over to the actual site. Same goes with DIY projects - don't type in the instructions. There's no need. Again, if I find something that I want to pin (say a recipe) and it has the recipe typed in the description, I change that before I pin it.
6. Instead of saying in a post 'I got the idea from Pinterest', say 'I got the idea from this cool blog (name)'.
See how that makes a difference? Pinterest didn't think of anything.
(edited to add)
7. Pin more than you repin
You don't have to only pin things that are already on pinterest. Pin what you really want on your boards, however you use them, not just what everyone else is pinning!
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What else? Did I cover everything? Do you think even this is overkill?
Okay, I'm going to add a little graphic here - so if you feel like pinning this post you can, and maybe we can have some better pinning going on out there!
