pinterest pinning: original sources

*update* this post is meant to be a helpful tool, not to sound snotty at all.. please see it that way!

Today I'm going to show you a quick and useful tool that you are in charge of on Pinterest. Nothing irks me more then the lack of source citing that comes from pinning.  Maybe it's because I have been using Pinterest since they were beta and I've seen so many creations go uncredited. So I'm going to show you a super quick way to try to give credit where it is due!

At first glance the photo below seems totally fine, it is tagged as a printable which usually means it is an online piece of art that you can download, save or print at no cost provided by the artist.  Now before I add this to my free downloads/printables board I have made on Pinterest, I want to make sure that I'm not giving out the wrong info so I always ALWAYS try to check the source, which is located in the top right corner aka the direct link.

As you can see when I click on the direct link it is in fact not the piece of art I am looking for,  instead it is from someones blog who has posted the photo and one of her readers pinned the photo dubbing it a printable. Thankfully the blogger is a smart cookie (with manners!) and has cited the source from which she found it.

Not everyone does this correctly which can lead you on a very long scavenger hunt to find the original source, sometimes you might not even find it (thats when I google search for it!). Now as you can see from her -image via here- link it took us to the original artist who created and sells this piece Dylan Fareed.  Reiterating the fact that this indeed is not a "printable" nor free.

Now that I still want to pin this item so I will use my pin bookmarklet (hopefully most of you have this on your computer?) that can be found here. I have mine on my tool bar for easy use when on my pc and I properly pin it into the correct album I want and with the source description.  For pinners who do not do this sort of thing you are basically allowing others to possibly copyright infringe on someones work.  There is a chain of events that can be happen here for instance: what if I didn't check the source and assumed it was just a printable, I then saved the image to my computer and printed how I wanted to?  What if I decided I like this and wanted to create the exact thing thinking it was free.. NO NO NO.. that's wrong!  This is why so many people I know write posts about copying vs inspiration.  Its a cycle that can be prevented, and with all respect to the artist its the right thing to do.  

Do you know how many times I see my shop items in someones DIY craft boards.. awesome that my hard work is now going to be copied for some ladies crafts night, now if you were to cite me as the source then be inspired that's different.  Get my point?? Give credit where it is due and in the end it just makes you a more respectful person to the artisan community.

I've slowly been going into my boards and editing all the description texts, which is time consuming considering I have over 2000 pins.  It helps though because when someone now searches for 'Dylan Fareed' they will find his work.

Did you know that when you type in a random word, thats what comes up with searches that people do?  If I typed in 'this is a cool saying' people might find it under cool or sayings just like if I typed in 'this poster is bullshit' they will now find it if they did a search for bullshit {insert giggles here}, but they won't find it via the artist, they wont find it under what the type actually says. *which after this post I changed to -we are so good together via Dylan Fareed, I'm trying to update all my pins with as much of a detailed description of what the item is rather then saying 'oh i like this'*

This isn't for everyone and this certainly isn't a rule.  

You do not have to go through the trouble of writing an exact item description and where you found it.  If you take the time to provide a better description and make sure it's going to the right place it helps us all.  For instance if you find a sewing pattern tutorial for a jacket, instead of writing 'oh cool i want to make this' you maybe write 'diy jacket tutorial pattern' or something along those lines, this it helps others find cool stuff!

Giving a general description allows others to use Pinterest as a search tool and catalog storage of their interests like it was intended to be used when it was created way back in 2009.  If you use vague descriptions then others may not find some of the coolest things out there, if you don't properly link then others won't discover deserving artists who created some of the things that you and I are inspired by.

There are so many people that don't use Pinterest to the best of its ability.  I've heard people comment 'oh I found a great recipe on Pinterest', technically yes you found it via Pinterest, but really you are just storing that great recipe in your boards so you don't have to take up room on your computer, but you found the recipe via the person who created it originally. So next time when you pin something try to think of where it came from and if you have time visit the original source, you may come upon a new website/blog/shop that you didn't even know existed past your Pinterest screen.  I can see now why some artists I've come across have blurbs about not putting their work on tumblr or weheartit as they can be lost so easily in there!

As you can see, when you visit the non-printable piece that I have shown you in this post you will be taken to its original owner, giving him the credit and traffic he deserves!  Next month in my Love Your Business series I will show you how to use Pinterest for your business/blog without breaking Pinterest policies, spamming your friends or looking to desperate for fans!  Happy pinning and if you aren't following me here is the direct link to my boards.

.. this is a small example of pinning gone wrong (or pins gone wild!)

i found this pin about 'juicing recipes'

http://pinterest.com/pin/102808803963424379/

which took me here... no recipe nor the creator of the photo

http://awelltraveledwoman.tumblr.com/page/6

which took me here... again no recipe nor the creator of the photo

http://www.mochatini.org/page/2/

which took me here.. and still no recipe..but i found the creator of the photo!!!

http://chantellegrady.com/

-notice you have to hunt in each of those links for the images?? they are pinned on pages instead of per post.. making your search even more difficult!-

so um where are those juicin' recipes??

Its about respect, its about making sources being easily accessible and properly identified...Its about giving credit, its about allowing others to locate the correct information for the things that interest them, and not sending them on wild goose chases!  The only thing that little chase did for me was introduce me to some blogs with pretty pics *noted & saved* These small steps won't change Pinterest unless Pinterest puts rules into place, but they make us a little more polite and a little less lazy! =)