I’ve mentioned how much I love Pinterest. I’ve blogged about the dark side of Pinterest too.
Pinning and repinning many wonderful, awesome ideas over the last few weeks, I’ve noticed a disturbing trend. SOOOO many of the pins that are super-hot-right-now (you can find those by going to http://pinterest.com/popular/) have as their source tumblr.com or google.com or vi.sualize.us or Pinterest for iPhone or weheartit.com or flickr.com or ffffound.com or imgfave.com or uploaded by user. You may have noticed some of those if you’re using Pinterest.
Here’s an example:
This is a pin that has been alllll over Pinterest. See? It’s been repinned and liked A. LOT.
Unfortunately, all of those pinners have pinned this image from one of those sites (or repinned it from someone who pinned it from one of those sites.)
If a pin has as its source one of those sites, chances are excellent that the image has been stolen (purposefully or inadvertently, it doesn’t matter) from its original site and its true creator. That means that the original creator of that image isn’t getting credit for it. That you, as an admirer of that art won’t be able to admire more of that artist’s work. And that makes me sad. It’s making a lot of artists and creators sad too.
And it could make you sad too.
Why? you ask. How? you ask.
So glad you asked.
I’ll tell you.
If you pin (or repin) something from one of those sites, you might not ever be able to find the original source. And while it might not matter if you pinned something cute or funny, something just for laughs, it really might matter if you want the directions or the recipe for that pin. It might really matter if you want to find other creative ideas by the artist who created the first one you pinned. And it matters to the artist/creator of the idea you pinned. Because they deserve to get credit for that wonderful idea. Because you obviously think their idea is great—or you wouldn’t be pinning it!!
And if you pinned from one of those sites (or repinned some else’s pin from one of those sites), good luck finding the original source! It’s close to impossible to find appropriate credit given on any of those sites. Those sites don’t care about copyright and documented credit.
So what to do about it? It’s simple. Don’t ever repin something without checking the source. If it comes from a questionable source, like those sites mentioned above, DON’T REPIN IT! If it’s something you really, really love and can’t live without and you repin it from a questionable source, you may not be able to find it ever again! Don’t take that risk!
Try this tip instead.
Search for the image using Google Images.
Yes. Google Images has bazillions of images–and it has a magical way of searching through every single one of them to find a match for almost any picture you could want to find.
Here. I’ll show you how it works.
First you go to Google.
And then click Images at the top.
Under the Google Images logo will be a box where you can drag and drop any photo you want identified. If it’s an image from a website, such as Pinterest, you will first need to save that image to your computer. For simplicity during this search process, I just save them to my desktop and then I can easily delete them when I am finishing searching.
I searched for the cupcake photo from the image above. The one that was pinned from one of those sites.
Google Images found that cupcake image 215 times. On the first page of results is listed Google’s best guess as to where that picture originated, along with the top five places where the image appears.
Note, three different Pinterest pins are in the top 5. The other two mentions are the same blog, Baked Perfection, and after checking out that site, it appears that Baked Perfection IS the originator of that cupcake image.
Now that I have found the proper source, I can pin it with confidence, knowing that it will be attributed correctly.
But what if you’re scanning through your Pinterest feed and see all kinds of fantastic pins you’d like to repin but don’t have time to search and verify?
(I read this tip somewhere in the middle of my Pinterest tips and tricks media blitz and wish I could find it again so I could give credit. If you came up with this, please let me know so I can properly thank you.)
It’s so simple: Click “Like” instead of “Repin” until you have time to verify. Then, when you’re not so rushed, flip through your “Likes,” verify sources, and pin to your boards. At this point, you could even pin straight from the source, since you’ve just found it. This will also help in case the original pin you were verifying is deleted by that original pinner. Yes, it does happen. And then your pin is dead. Just another reason to be a “pinner” instead of a “repinner.”
I was surprised by a few things this week. One, that there were so many ill-pinned pins out there. Two, that there was a relatively easy way to find image sources. Three, I’m always pleasantly surprised by the delights I find on Pinterest. So many talented minds producing so many fabulous creations. I am enthralled by all of them! (I’d love for you to check out my Pinterest boards here.)
