Confession: I’m not on Pinterest

Recently, my friend asked me “Are you on Pinterest yet?”.

“No. Pinterest is the devil”. 

It’s not really. 

Or is it? (disclaimer- I have nothing against the creators, or users of Pinterest nor do I really think they are the devil or any hellish beast)

I’ve heard from countless people “ I signed up for Pinterest; I was on there for hours!”.

Reason number 1 why I’m not on Pinterest:

     I already spend too much time online. I run an online business and am in the process of launching a second online business (surprise! but more on that later). With email, Facebook, Twitter, Etsy, Flickr and this blog, I have enough to do. 
I share interesting links to articles or photos on Facebook or Twitter.

I’m always plugged in.

(PS- having your pins linked to your Twitter feed when you go on a pinning spree 5 x a day is the fastest way to get me to unfollow you)

Reason number 2 why I’m not on Pinterest:

     I have enough trouble keeping up with what I have online already.  Take a look at the dates of the posts on this blog… I need to make my blogging more consistent, not less. 

Reason number 3 why I’m not on Pinterest:

     I have enough on my project-to-do list. 

The top argument I hear for joining Pinterest is “it’s so inspirational”!  

I’m not lacking inspiration.  And when I do get stuck and need some crafty  mojo, I have a Google reader full of blogs, pages of bookmarks I can review, my whiteboard and my notebook full of projects I can/want/am waiting to start.


Reason number 4 whey I’m not on Pinterest:

“But Stephanie, you have an online business! You need to be on Pinterest, so people go to your shop and buy your things”!

     Really? 

See number 3- if most people are using Pinterest as a to-do list for their own DIY projects…they aren’t my target market. 

Etsy recently added a “pin it” button in each listing, and beside the “tweet” and “share” buttons.  If someone wants to pin photos of my cards, they can.  People are free to pin my items if they so choose.

It also seems to be a faux-pas to pin your own items for your own promotion.  Whether that’s an actual Term of Use, or just frowned upon I don’t know.  But I fail to see how being on Pinterest would equate to more sales for my shop.  I’d personally prefer to be in more treasuries on Etsy, which I would consider to be the first pinterest-type arrangement.  People looking at treasuries are more likely to be buyers.



There has been some talk in the Etsy forums, that as other users “pin” your photos, and not all owners provide consent to the “pin-er”, the owner loses copyright protection.  I don’t really know about that, nor am I worried about it. I gave up my online privacy that day in grade six I signed up for an email account.  If you put anything on the internet you have to be aware someone, somewhere will probably use it, find it, or claim it as their own.  My photos on Flickr are more important to me than my images of my greeting cards.  Although Flickr has licensing and other stops in place that I can use to protect my images. And  my favourite images, the ones I really want to protect, are not online at all.

I think the idea of Pinterest is great; I can see how it could be useful to organize ideas,  be fun and inspiring. 


But I don’t need it.
I don’t want it.
And frankly, I’m over it.

Will I ever join Pinterest?
I’ve learned it can be foolish to never say never.

The way I see it is until Pinterest starts offering units of time to complete my ideas/projects, I won’t be signing up requesting an invite (and what is up with that?) any time soon.

Because time is what I really need.

S

ETA- Pinterest is a hot topic right now.  After I wrote this post (last night) there were no less than 4 threads on Pinterest in the Etsy business forums.  Most of the discussions were regarding legal rights to images that may be sold by Pinterest to affiliated websites (Amazon, Target, etc)- 'images', not "items".  Lore has it that Pinterest keeps the full file when an image is 'uploaded' (vs. being pinned).
The TOU's posted from Pinterest indicate you are to only upload an image that you own the copyright to, or have permission to upload.


There's also concern that Etsy didn't ask the member's permission to put the "pin" button in all of our shops.  


I haven't read the Pinterest TOUs in their entirety, but this seems to be a slippery slope.  I can see how a photographer could be caught in this loophole.  I hope that Pinterest addresses these issues.

Posted in: Pinterest