Pinterest is another strand in the spider-web of social media. It lets you pin your blog for greater exposure, pin your own Youtube videos, but it also opens the door to go get other people’s ideas, products, and information. Pinterest apparently captures the entire image most of the time, which appears to cross the copyright lines of using other people’s stuff.
Pinning does beg the question “Is it OK to pin other peoples stuff?” As we were discussing ways to use it one of our Twitter friends @chericson tweeted out an article about Pinterest and copyright laws. It was an eye - opener for sure and raised a lot of questions about the legalities of pinning other people’s information.
So here are some things to remember when pinning: Pinterest places all liability on you as the user. (I only read the fine print from the article mentioned above). Always give credit to the author, photographer, and movie maker. Can’t really promise this will protect you, but it is always good practice when sharing information whether you are Tweeting, Scooping, or Pinning. Use Pinterest to promote your own digital content and then you are completely safe.
It seems like people love to jump on the latest tech bandwagon, but this one appears to be staying. It will be interesting to watch user policies and legalities. Would you want your photographs on other people’s boards? It probably depends on the artist. Should Pinterst develop requests to pin your stuff? I would not be surprised! Look how many times Facebook has changed it’s policies multiple times. With 12 million users to date, Pinterest will have to be on top of its policies as well! Happy and safe pinning to you!
Written by Jenny Krzystowczyk
