Okay. I’ll admit it. I’m kinda (sorta, a little bit) addicted to Pinterest. It’s a wonderful way of visually bookmarking pages and ideas.
However, there’s a darker side to Pinterest. Not everyone pins properly, and sometimes it drives me crazy.
Ideally, whenever you click on a pin it should bring you directly to the original source of the photo, article, recipe, etc. I’m not saying that I always pin correctly. But there are a few things I try to avoid.
Here are my tips for better pinning:
1) Pin from the individual post on a blog, not the main page
I see this so many times. You’re scrolling through a blog, and you see a recipe/photo that you really like. You hit the “pin it” button and go merrily on your way. However, when someone clicks on your pin a month or so later, the post is nowhere to be seen on the main page of the blog.
Please click through to the individual post before pinning. It will save everyone a lot of time.
2) Don’t post from your RSS feed reader, Tumblr main page, or an email update
So you’re happily reading updates from blogs you love when you see an awesome post you want to share. You hit the “pin it” button and continue getting caught up on your blogs. When someone sees your awesome pin and wants to read the post, they’re brought to their own RSS reader which doesn’t contain the post they’re looking for. Do everyone a favor and click through to the original post before pinning.
The same applies for the Tumblr main page and email updates.
3) Speaking of Tumblr…
Whenever I see that a pin originated from Tumblr, my heart sinks. I know there are many bloggers who share their work through Tumblr, but there are many, many more that share other people’s work without clearly crediting them. Sometimes it’s so hard for me to find the original source that I give up on a pin. Please, if you’re a Tumblr user, provide a clear link back to the original source. And Pinterest users: don’t pin from a Tumblr blog that doesn’t give proper credit!
4) If you upload a photo, provide a link to the original source
Another thing that causes heart-sinkage: “Uploaded by user.” This means there’s no easy way to find out who the original artist is – you’d have to click on the pin endless times. But there’s hope! It’s very easy to add a link to the photo you upload.
Upload a pin from your computer, then hover over the picture with your mouse and hit the “edit” button.
This will take you to an “Edit Pin” page where you can easily insert a link. Hit save, and you’re done!
5) Don’t pin a photo directly after commenting on a post
If you hit “pin” directly after commenting on a blog post, the pin will take everyone directly to your comment instead of the top of the post. Very annoying.
A Couple More Tips/Tricks:
Google Image Search
If you simply cannot find the original source but really want to share a photo, try using the Google Images search. Right click on the photo you want to share and hit “copy image URL.”
Go to Google Images and hit the little blue camera button on the right side of the search bar.
Simply paste the URL you just copied, hit search, and you’ll be shown different sources of the image. You may have to do a bit of digging to find the original source, but it’s usually quite possible.
Did you Know you can edit your board cover?
Have you noticed how your pin boards have a photo representing the entire board? You can either let Pinterest choose that photo, or you can decide for yourself.
Click on one of your boards and hover over the picture you want to use as your “board cover.” Hit the “Set Board Cover” button.
You’ll be taken to a pop-up that allows you to drag the photo around until it looks just right. Hit “Set Cover” and you’re done.
So there you have my tips for better pinning.
Do you have any tricks/etiquette to share?
Hope ya’ll found this helpful!
xoxo
Erica Lea
April 11th, 2012 at 9:29 am Moderate
April 11th, 2012 at 12:37 pm Moderate
J.
April 11th, 2012 at 2:05 pm Moderate
April 12th, 2012 at 5:49 am Moderate
April 12th, 2012 at 8:09 am Moderate
April 12th, 2012 at 8:12 am Moderate