Credit: Jayme Soulati
As soon as I heard about the copyright-pinning snafu from this highly popular new channel, I stopped pinning. As a professional who works with lawyers to protect intellectual property rights (which include all images), I have no desire to get caught up in a copyright mêlée.
I paid attention as the Pinterest founders hammered out their new strategy for pinners, and then yesterday, I just shook my head at the obvious lack of clarity about the entire platform.
The Wall Street Journal on March 27 ran a piece, “In Shift, Pinterest Says to Pin Your Own Stuff.” Indeed.
The beauty of Pinterest as a visually appealing channel has been the freedom to grab an image that resonates, create a board, and share with the world. And it cascades from there…I wonder if the pins I posted with bridges in the rain forest of Borneo came from National Geographic?
Could National Geographic file a lawsuit against every single pinner who posted an image without permission on their boards? Hmmm, I don’t think so, but, it’s not worth the aggravation.
So, in a nutshell, here’s the recap from yesterday’s story in the almighty Wall Street Journal:
- Self-promotion is now the new normal on Pinterest. Do you recall at all when Pinterest informed companies they couldn’t promote themselves by pinning images of their own products? Guess that’s now a reversal, and companies are encouraged to pin away.
Outcome: Pinterest will become another advertising billboard and followers will likely yawn unless they’re already brand loyal.
- The best way for us to avoid copyright conflict is to pin material we either create or have permission to use. Really? I don’t know about you, but I’m not sitting around all day creating cool photo-shopped images to share on my boards. Maybe the photos I took of my blooming spring flowers would make a nice Flowers In My Garden board, but who has the time to go to that trouble and for what gain? And, how does one go about getting permission to use an image…if you’ve ever attempted that, you know it’s a nightmare.
Outcome: Pinners’ excitement will wane with the new self-create images mantra and the necessity to get permission.
- New “Pin Etiquette” rules and principles take effect April 6 and are designed to be simpler, encourage authenticity and invite long-term happiness at Pinterest.
Outcome: I am reasonably astute in legal matters as I manage all litigation for a client. That said, the new etiquette rules have been created to appease all legal teams and for Pinterest’s ultimate survival. What has in fact occurred is a dampening of enthusiasm for pinners to freely pin (with all due respect to the pin-ees) images that delight.
I don’t know about you, but I may withdraw completely from Pinterest to protect my intellectual property. And you?
Jayme, this is one instance where my not being an early-adopter has served me well. Although I was captivated by the concept of pinterest, I stayed away, mainly intuitively, to allow the dust to settle. Besides, I didn’t need yet another platform to draw me into its vortex right now:) Cheers! Kaarina
@KDillabough I waited, too, but not as long. My marketing blogger pushed me there, but I don’t really see the ROI long-term and with this latest kerfuffle…very likely to withdraw as stated above. But, I still see the merit for your jewelry, Kaarina! Hands down…absolute!
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing Yes, I do see the point/merit for my jewellery. Been debating about etsy or pinterest for that.
@KDillabough Why not both? Etsy a narrow audience while Pinterest can cascade who knows where with pins and repins?
@KDillabough What Kaarina said! … And this was a really good analysis Jayme.
I’ve avoided Pinterest for the simple reason that I didn’t and don’t have time to be pinning. It also didn’t make much sense for me. What was I going to pin? Pictures of books or people writing? I’m kind of glad I didn’t get sucked into the “vortex,” as @KDillabough says.
@Erin F. @KDillabough Indeed. It makes this all the more confusing after the founders’ obvious lack of their own clarity. Am thinking, though, they had to know it was an IP infringement! They went ahead anyway until all the world’s lawyers began to weigh in.
No way would a legal team allow this to unfold the way it did without knowledge of the backlash. is this an instance where go-to-market strategy and legal worked hand-in-hand? At least, Pinterest themselves protected its copyright. Thanks, Erin!
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing @Erin F. @KDillabough I am so going to miss your bacon board Erin. Weeps.
I too failed to see any value for a service based firm such as Lawyerlocate.ca inc. Seemed to me it was rolled out for retailers and recipes. Do not see it growing from a social business perspective.
Yep; see your point indeed! Service businesses seem to struggle a bit more with location-based marketing and channels like Pinterest, Mark. As per what Michelle said above, she’s using the medium to promote her clients who are artisans and artists and photographers, etc. Makes sense! Great to see you here today! Do you still have snow up there? @MarkCRobins
I’m going to screengrab all my boards … just in case. Such a shame. It’s a great idea and SO fun … I’ve found so much great content there … but – alas! – red tape and bad apples do their thing again. Boo-hiss!
Good idea — maybe that’s good blog post filler and what not to do on Pinterest? Not sure we need to worry about the platform shutting down, as we on the leading edge know differently. The masses are still engaging and have no idea what the legal requirements are for this channel. @suddenlyjamie
I have to write a reply post to this — my comment is way too long! We’re sticking with Pinterest, but using it in a way that drives traffic to not only our own blog/website, but to a large segment of our audience: photographers, artisans, and artists. That support you show others — if they’re in your audience — brings traffic to you and your services. It’s a win-win. I have tips galore for how you can use Pinterest to support the ORIGINAL creator of an image, drive traffic to them, and use Pinterest to drive traffic back to your own website. But you have to think like a marketer — and that’s where many social media folks get hung up.
@New England Multimedia I so admire your day job. You were wondering how solopreneurs “do it?” This is exactly where we don’t. The type of thinking you’re suggesting is excellent and so necessary. Would most social marketers act in this fashion, then more companies would see the merit. Please provide a link here to your post; eager to see and share.
I”m not worried. End of story. What’s going on with Pinterest is nothing new. This will shake out and be fine. Sharing happens all over the web, and I think everyone is being a bit reactionary on this.
@KenMueller As we’re wont to do, Ken, eh? Thanks for stopping in to give a little skew the other way…still and all…it’s either a publicity stunt or a bad lawyer out of the gate.
So, with @New England Multimedia comment below about using Pinterest for artisans, photography, etc., I’m suggesting to @KDillabough she put her jewelry on Pinterest and Etsy, too. I am now more jazzed about making this medium the “pay-it-forward” channel — you promote your artsy friends’ products or clients you want to work with and show them how it’s done.
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing @KDillabough Exactly! I did that one post called “How to Share the Love Using Pinterest” with a board I created for Valentine’s Day, complete with Valentine’s Day gifts and images from artisans. You can see the post here: https://bit.ly/y2lxV6
@New England Multimedia @KDillabough I did read that and marveled. Great creativity.
The first time I got a whiff of this issue was about a month and a half ago; a tweep cried, “Everybody stop pinning right now!” accompanied by a title about Pinterest and copyright, with a link. I didn’t click, and got a chuckle, thinking, “Right, like THAT’s gonna happen.”
And it hasn’t. The cries about copyright have gotten progressively louder, and I’ve still yet to see the general public going, “Oh noes! We better sort this out!”
I think it’s because people think, well it’s a legitimate platform, with a registered domain name and everything, and the Pinterest guys are nice guys–remember how they worked with the guy who pinned something politically controversial? They mean well! Yeah, they may have excellent customer service, but that’s cold comfort if you’re getting sued by National Geographic, I think. But I do believe it’ll take something drastic like a shut-down or a big-corp/little-guy lawsuit to send everyone screaming back to Flickr.
I do believe like kmueller62 that this will shake out eventually. Whether it ends up a glorified Flickr or a flaming billboard, we’ll see. I do want to see NEMultimedia ‘s tips, too. I don’t want Pinterest to become a hobby because that’s all it will be if I can’t think of a way to use it businesswise, and I haven’t yet.
That said, I’ve yet to pin anything. I don’t have time, and I’m afraid of how much time I could possibly waste, having visited it all of thrice since it’s been up and forgetting each time to leave breadcrumbs behind as I walked through the forest, if you know what I mean…
@ShakirahDawud kmueller62 NEMultimedia OK, thanks for writing your blog post here! Agree on all counts…where is the time most of all? And, until a little, non-social media leader gets sued, no one is going to care. But, we will, eh?
Hmm, I never got around to jointing Pinterest so I’m a bit confused on this topic. Does this mean that people could get into copyright trouble if they pin images that they didn’t get permission to use or aren’t their own images? I wonder how this relates to Tumblr. A lot of people (myself included) reblog hundreds of photos which 99% of the time do not belong to the person posting it and at best have a click through link to the owner of the image.
@asdupre That’s exactly it. Pinterest tells you that you are liable if you pin something that is copyrighted.
@asdupre Yes, ma’am. This copyright issue holds true for bloggers anywhere, not just on Tumblr. Flickr has Creative Commons which provides users ability to post with credit. I purchase many of my images for my blog on Fotolia; I’m not in any copyright jeopardy. This is an issue with websites and any other internet domain channel.
Pinterest knew this was an issue when they launched. No lawyer in her right mind would allow go-to-market without major discussion about the ramifications. That’s why Pinterest protected itself and not really its pinners.
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing Interesting. Tumblr is still going strong. I’m not well versed in the facts of this situation but I think it will only deter people who have reputations to protect or don’t want to worry about the potential of legal issues. I think for the most part, the average user will stay.
@asdupre Exactly right. The masses will not understand the legal ramifications.
BTW, this week’s Ad Age is an issue you’ll want to get; it has the top 40 agencies at which to work. I bet there are a few you might like to network with. How’s that going?
Everyone?! Alyssa is seeking her first gig out of Syracuse PR program; she wrote an awesome first blog post here on defining PR…if you have any leads for her, please send. Thanks for the help in advance.
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing Thanks for the shout out! I’ll definitely have to pick up that issue. The job search is going alright, I found a great executive training program at Ruder Finn that I’m really interested in and will be applying to. Other than that, I’m still researching.
Social media and the legal world definitely don’t get along. After working for the courts for a few years (and being married to a lawyer), I can definitely attest to this! But, that’s a whole other topic…
I think big corporations (and their legal departments) will start shying away from Pinterest as a result of this so they don’t get tangled in costly litigation. But, I doubt the average individual will be as careful. Much like music, it gets incredibly difficult to police copyrighted material. If will be interesting to see how this shakes out.
This might end some clutter. I have a client in gourmet food. We are posting our own content except one board. We are posting photos from food bloggers of food from their friends. Meaning we highlight food from other gourmet food makers but the content is owned by our food blog friends. So obviously all repins everyone is happy with.
Question is will this reduce traffic and visits or people caring. I think as long as the photos when clicked go to the source site the content owner should be happy.
Doesn’t National Geographic who’s site I rarely visit want to lose that chance I will click that ocean photo and be brought to their site? I personally don’t think so. But if that connection is not there? Absolutely.