Today I want to talk about Pinterest. We all use it and we all love it. It's a great way to bookmark and save pictures to go back to in the future. It's a great mood board tool to find inspiration when designing. However, it's also a cesspool of copyright infringement.
I was going through my emails this morning and opened up one from Pinterest. They often send those "we think you might like these pins/boards" emails, which is fine as I often find some new stuff in there. But then I saw a picture that looked very familiar. It was Lucy Barter's Craftsy design, but not any of the ones I'd seen before on the Craftsy page. This one was stitched on cream fabric. After a closer inspection I realized it was mine. Which is fine because it just means more exposure for my blog. However, the pin itself says 'uploaded by user' with no reference or credit to my blog. This means that whoever stumbles onto the pin will never be referred back to me or any of my social media accounts. This also means that they will also never know who stitched it and whose design it is. They are not only stealing credit from me but also the rightful owners of the designs.
It might be that the person doesn't know how to properly pin pictures from blogs, I've seen other pins on their board that do point to the correct locations but many more that do not. So here is a little tip for when you try to pin an image from a blog post:
- make sure you've selected the title of the post so that it loads the page with only that post.
- pin the image that you want from that post
By doing this, the next time you click on the pin to open the image's source it will take you to the appropriate source and not to the main page. This is something that I always do when I want to pin something and ensure it brings me back to the correct page.
I've put in a request to Pinterest to remove the pins and that's all the action I will do for now. However, if it happens again I will have to take drastic measures. And believe me it won't be as just a watermark because I know from other bloggers that it's useless.
Not the post you were expecting from me I'm sure, but it had to be said :)
My blog has a Pinterest blocker on it. I don't know how well it works, because I don't frequent Pinterest, but I know from other bloggers that it can be a serious problem..
ReplyDeleteHello Dima, I just read your post about Pinterest and you're absolutely right: what you say does happen again, very, very often.
ReplyDeleteWe had noted that with my husband and for this reason, I sign all my photos of embroidery. Will that change anything, no, I do not think so but at least I know it's my picture.
Maybe it would be more reasonable to just stay with our blogs ???
I ask myself the question for a while because like you, this bothers me a lot.
Sincerely,
Isa
Nicely put. Curious why no watermarks? I realize they can be edited out of photos but it takes some knowledge and tools to do so. Might help with casual pinners not following correct steps.
ReplyDeleteS.
You're right about Pinterest being a hot bed of copyright infringement. Knowing that, though, I do watermark my photos, but that's all. Oh well.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this. I use Pintrest but only a little. I think it is too easy to steal others hard work.
ReplyDeleteI loathe Pinterest and will not sign up for it. When I do my SAL posts I do a lot of research to find suitable designs to show. This used to be easy as the top results were for the designer or an online shop. Now the top results are always Pinterest with no credits.
ReplyDeleteAnd don't get me started on people sharing original charts!
I only started using Pinterest a little while ago and don't use it a lot...there are some gorgeous ideas out there, but I am always weary since so many things are without proper credits!
ReplyDeleteInteresting post. i'm totally sure that most don't know how to pin properly. It drives me crazy to see a picture that says "by user". So often I want to know more about the artist and perhaps follow a blog if they have one.
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas
Oh my, I use it, but might have to take another look!
ReplyDeleteGreat post Dima and something we all need to think about. I know I’m guilty of blindly re-pinning others pins without checking the source is correct. Something I need to do in the future to protect all of us.
ReplyDelete