My name is Bonita and I’m a Pinterest addict.
If you don’t know what Pinterest is then stop reading right now. You’re better off. Once you know, you’ll be an addict too.
But if you must know, the Pinterest help page tells you all about it.
I enjoy Pinterest for several reasons:
-It’s beautiful- so many lovely pictures.
-It’s a social media site that’s way more fun than Twitter or Facebook.
-You can find and learn about anything there.
-You can share your own great stuff and other cool things you find.
It can be a great resource for writers. Check out some of the boards I’ve made specifically for and about writing:
This one is called Writing, Writing, Writing.
Next is Humor for Writers.
How about Books by People I Know?
Or you can check out all the boards by Bonita Lillie (me).
How can Pinterest specifically benefit writers?
-We can learn more about writing via posts that are pinned.
-Things we write can be pinned by ourselves or others so our audience grows.
-When others pin our stuff over and over it’s basically free marketing.
Sounds like a winning situation to me!
But there are drawbacks:
You might have noticed that little red button in my sidebar that looks like this:
That button gives you permission to pin posts from this blog. I also have one on my Reality Homeschooling blog. (Click the red button and you will be taken to a site where you can get your own.)
Why do you need permission? Pinterest is fairly new and growing rapidly. Unfortunately, a lot of copyright laws are being violated so we have to be careful about what we’re pinning. I’m currently in the process of weeding through my hundreds of pins to remove anything that violates copyright and to make sure that I’m only pinning things that are okay to pin. This could take a while!!
To find out more info about how to use Pinterest, check out these posts:
The Ultimate List of Pinterest Tips
Pinterest and Copyright: What I’m Doing
Pinterest Pet Peeves
56 Ways to Market Your Business on Pinterest
Pinterest: Everything You Need to Know is in This Massive Post
It’s Not Just Pinterest Re: Copyright and Legal Issues
How Your Website Can Profit From Pinterest Today
If you have any comments or ideas to share about Pinterest, I’d really like to hear them.
14 comments:
Oh Bonita, I've been studiously avoiding it - afraid to do one more thing that keeps me "pinned" to this screen. Now I'm wondering...
Thank you for sharing, but personally I am not going to get involved with even one more bandwagon item.
Anonymous, I completely understand. However, I've found Pinterest to be a really useful business tool once I figured out what to do and not do. I'd trade it for most of the other social networks out there.
I don't love it yet. But I am going to go follow you. Thanks for the tips.
Thanks for this Bonita! I love Pinterest, but up til now was wondering about copyright issues. I never knew there was an instruction page or a permission button. Thanks for the links.
I'll be checking it out.
I'd never thought about pinterest and writing. Hmmm....lots of food for thought there. With all of the copyright issues, it's becoming a trickier place to navigate, but oh so fun and inspiring.
Hmmmm . . . copyright issues. I will have to take a look at that. I didn't know there was a permission to pin button. Why do things have to be so complicated. I have only recently begun to pin from my own posts - getting my feet wet as a marketing tool. But, it would appear I must be cautious - and stay protected - and protect the work of others, too. Thanks for the tips and educational reading list.
Joy!
Kathy
Thanks so much..this has all just come to my attention, so thanks for the helpful information
I can't, I can't, I can't. Only a week ago I joined Twitter.
Sigh.
But I want to join. Oh, the boards I would create!
Bonita, I need to re-read this post and read some of the posts to which you've linked. I've not used Pinterest very much, but I do think it's amazing! And I'm guessing that with a little discipline I could get even more use out of it. Thank you for the practical advice!
Thanks for this post Bonita, it's been a while since I've checked your boards, will have to take a look. What I've been doing is trying not to put anything on my printable board that isn't exactly that. I've also started adding specifics that go with it such as "free for personal use", etc. I too need to go back through and take some things off. ~ Abby
Hi Bonita,
I'm a little late to this post. :) It's a great resource for someone, like me, who has the invitation for Pinterest sitting in her inbox, but still isn't sure about diving in. Can't wait to take a look at all those links you've provided.
Best, Christie
Hey Bonita,
This is so true that we can have more fun on Pinterest than Facebook and Twitter. Overall I can say that this really the perfect social networking site for this social media age and definitely it is going to beat Facebook.
I love pinterest too! I never saw it as a tool for writers though. Thanks for the recs!
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