Pinning Away for a Simpler Time

Well, my Pinterest saga has gotten interesting.  And I haven't even been on it a week.

Thanks to one of my blogging "mentors",Michelle Shaeffer, I've been alerted to some of the ins and outs of using the suddenly very popular imaged-based social networking site, Pinterest.  But first, what have I found out on my own?

Pinterest's simplicity is amazing.  You go to the website, ask for an invitation, sign in from the invite (which will come a day or two later), and set up your "boards". Pinterest will ask you for your interests and, based on those interests, assign you some people to follow.  So, from the first moment, you are not alone. And then you start to pin images.  They can be your images, but the social part is finding images you like on the internet, and pinning those.  Or, "repinning" images that interest you from people you are following.

Then, other Pinterest users, if they like your images, "like" them, comment on them or repin them on their own boards.

If you are a visual person (and I am) it is the next best thing to chocolate.  And that is saying a lot for me, a chocohaulic for over 50 years.

There are some very amazing boards out there.  Some people must have spent hundreds of hours putting them together.

Pinterest will also tell you which of your Facebook friends are on Pinterest, so you can follow them, too.  It appears it can search your Twitter account to to match up followers that are on Pinterest, but as of right now I haven't figured out how to do that.

Someone has sent me information, but somehow I'm not able to find what she sent.  I'm still working on it...(sigh).

Some fellow bloggers are already following me, and vice versa.   It's fascinating to see what my fellow followers select for their boards.  And, did I mention how much fun it is?


So what's there not to like?

The problem is:  after I spent some very addictive hours pinning away, I found out it ain't so simple.  Not all images on the Internet are there for the taking. (I knew that intellectually but got a little carried away).  Many images are copyrighted, or have other restrictions on them.  Meaning you and me may not have any right to use them.

So now I have to educate myself.  What I've done is started to go through my boards.  Fortunately I haven't put hundreds of images up on my boards yet but it is a matter of trying to find the time.

I've repinned images mainly, so I am going back and trying to find the source.  Any that don't give an original source (i.e. if they come from a Google images search) will be removed by me.  For what it is worth, I have never "copied" and "pasted" any image onto this website, period.  And I know the same thing would be a no-no on Pinterest.

As Michelle says, we all need to be good netcitizens.

So, yes, I am going to continue to use the site.  I just will try to be as careful as I can be. Last night, I already found some gorgeous images that were from 'google'.  Oh well.

I just could wish that things could be simpler.  For all the Internet has enriched our lives, it has also made our lives so much more complicated.

Hmmm....a simpler time...wouldn't that be a great subject for a great Pinterest board?