Let’s Talk About Pinterest
Ah Pinterest. The place where crafty people congregate, foodies flock and where the un-inspired feel inspiration… not to mention terrible about themselves because they so OBVIOUSLY suck and everyone else out there is amazing.
But whether you love, hate or are completely obsessed with Pinterest, it’s time to take notice that we are all getting mighty sloppy with our pinning. Yes, I know, it’s SO DANG easy to just repin something. Click. Done. Moving on. But what if you click on that source and it’s not there? Or maybe it’s just a Google Image without a link? WTF?!? How the hell am I supposed to make that killer recipe if there is NO FLIPPING LINK? And it’s not just about me folks… what about that person who posted that recipe? All of a sudden, their recipe is out there in the Pin-Ether, with no way to get to it. And no proper link or recognition of them and their awesomeness.
LAMESAUCE
Let’s talk about your boards, too. Are they organized? My house/life isn’t even organized so expecting my boards to be is a stretch. Mine at least LOOK pretty from far away but underneath? They’re a “full on Monet”.
(And if you don’t know the reference, I don’t think we can be friends)
“What does this mean?” It will be different for everyone. Everyone uses Pinterest for their own greater good (cough:: waste of time), so do what feels right. Hopefully, in the end, we’ll just clean up the Pinning world a little bit and make it easier to find real, legitimately awesome pins.
Some things to help you out if you’re not sure where to start:
{Check Sources}
Do your pins lead you to the correct place? Do they lead you ANYwhere? If you click on a pin and it takes you to Google or some other search engine, right back to Pinterest, or if you get an error message… it’s not pinned correctly. From here you have to decide if it’s worth your time- either find the original source and update your pin, or delete it.
(insert record scratching here) “Wait, wtf?? You mean I have to go through all my pins and check them all?”
That’s up to you. But think about how many times you’ve seen something on Pinterest and just pinned it instantly without checking the source. Not only is that not fair to other pinners, it’s SUPER unfair to the person who created the content you are pinning.
If editing all of your boards is overwhelming, consider just working on your biggest board. Then you could go back and work on smaller boards as time allows.
{Update Descriptions; Make Pins More Searchable}
Do you have any bad pinning habits (Yes)? Pins are not very searchable (and therefore not very useful) if you just write “Love this.” Or “OMG! So cute!” Go back to those pins and write “Love this headboard for my bedroom” or “OMG this leather purse is so cute!” Also, if your pin comes from a blogger of any kind, consider adding the name of their blog to the description. They worked hard on that post!! Give them credit!
{Update Your Board Covers}
It’s easy to do, and it makes it easy to visually distinguish them from other boards. If you haven’t done it yet, read this.
{Update Your Followers}
Take a few minutes and look through people who are following you. You can see all of them by going to your main board page and clicking on your number of followers. You’ll see everyone who is following you. Is your aunt on there? Maybe you should follow her back (or not…). Your best friend from college? I bet she’d like you to show her some love, too. Take another few minutes and follow some new people.
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When you’re done you will feel like you’ve completed a digital spring cleaning of your Pinterest boards. You can pat yourself on the back, and then come over and actually spring clean my house. Because I suck at it. And if I can clean up my Pinterest Boards??? No excuses for you!
If you feel the notion to come play with us on April 26th, grab the button from the side bar and put it in on your page/post/wherever you think if will make people LOOK! Spread the word… let people know on Facebook, Twitter, email… whatever.
Just get that sh** cleaned up already! Mmmmkay?
