Pinterest: Changes on the way

Got a great tip today while reading Alyson Stanfield’s Art Biz Blog. Her post about Pinterest, Is the Pinterest Problem Really a Problem? included an update on Kirsten Kowalski’s Why I Tearfully Deleted My Pinterest Inspiration Boards, which as you may know, is a topic of interest to me. 

Kowalski’s follow-up blog post describes a phone call she has with Pinterest founder Ben Silbermann. Silbermann asked if he could call her within hours of her initial blog post. During their talk, Kowalski learned that he was working with copyright lawyers. And they brainstormed a little too. They talked about the strengths and weaknesses of the current design of Pinterest and then Silbermann disclosed some some of his plans for the future of the online pinboard; there are changes on the way, but, according to Kowalski, we will have to “wait and see” Silbermann’s “on it.”

I can’t wait!

But I will. ;)

Knowing when it’s time to go

A few weeks ago my friends and I talked about the importance of being able to assess any situation and leave intact, before the crap hits the fan. We’ve all been there, some of us more than others, nestling in, making ourselves more comfortable than we should in a situation that’s not good for us.

So what’s the breaking point? When is enough really enough?

And how do we know when it’s time to go?

I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately within the context of my relationship and status in Pinterest and found two excellent articles that articulated the concerns I have with staying active on Pinterest. The first article is a blog post by Ben Cook of Direct Match Media called Pinterest’s Quiet Copyright Coup. Cook nails key issues in this piece and he does it with humor and insight. Most of us who have been using Pinterest and getting into a pin-groove are feeling less than groovy about the potential liabilities we may face for our activities. The central issue for members of Pinterest is the rights issue; according to the Terms of Use, members grant Pinterest irrevocable rights to their images.

Kirsten Kowalski’s article, entitled Why I Tearfully Deleted My Pinterest Inspiration Boards, deals with the irrevocable rights matter, but also tackles the dilemma of “What do I do if I’m not a creator, but a pinner of creators’ work?” Kowalski’s blog post provides the unique perspective of a photographer, a lawyer, and a pinner -and it’s all from her experience. (I’m grateful to the Facebook PinChat/Pinterest Chat group for the article because it was on the group chat board that I found it). 

Kowalski says the deal breaker for her was when she imagined whether or not other photographers would want her pinning their work. I too have thought about this and have thought (perhaps rather self-centeredly) that I was promoting people whose work I valued when I pinned their work. What I hadn’t considered until I read Kowalski, was that I was “unilaterally making the decision FOR that other photographer.” oops.

As Kowalski writes, the bottom line is, posting others’ work isn’t our decision (legally or ethically).

Knowing when it’s time to go is though. 

*correction has been made to original text which read: Terms of Service, rather than TERMS OF USE