The following short overview about Pinterest should serve as an introduction to this social media technology.
What's All the Interest about Pinterest?
The following short overview about Pinterest should serve as an introduction to this social media technology.
Currently, Pinterest is in “beta” – which means it’s not currently open to the public. In order to participate, you must be invited by a registered member. Think of Pinterest as a collection of virtual bulletin boards where you can pin images that relate to a particular topic. These “pins” can occur by uploading images from a desktop machine or by marking an image from a website. From a social media perspective, as a Pinterest member you can participate in another member's “pins” by “following” them (so that you receive updates when they add pins), “liking”, or “repining” (sharing pins).
Since it is a visual tool, some possible uses include:
- Promotion of materials, ideas, etc
- Develop followers, similar to Facebook, so that you can generate a community with similar interests.
- Use it as another social media tool to advertise and market a “product” – an idea, a promotion, etc. Integrate Pinterest as part of an overall social media plan.
Similar to a Facebook group, before jumping into Pinterest the user is encouraged to think about how they want to use the social media technology. Like other social media tools, Pinterest will provide opportunities to engage Extension personnel as well as interact with Extension clientele.
On Feb 3 Bob Bertsch from North Dakota State University led a webinar whose topic was Pinterest for Extension. His overview is here
Potential Problems with Pinterest
The vast majority of images found on the Internet are not "public domain" and pinning or re-pinning them on a brand's virtual pinboard risks of a copyright infringement claim by the original image owner. Just because the Internet gives a brand the ability to pin an image to a Pinterest page doesn't mean that it's legal. Pinterest users can "pin" images that they don't own to their personal Pinterest page. These pins are whole images, not thumbnails, that link back to the original source (when it is from a website). When the Pinterest user is a major advertiser who develops a brand pinboard, there may be legal hurdles before the image can be effectively pinned. For more information, please see
http://adage.com/article/digitalnext/brands-pinterest-breaking-law/233038/
How might we limit liability to Extension and minimize the risk of copyright infringement? Only pin (and "re-pin") images that Extension (OSU) owns or has appropriately licensed. Obviously this limits Extension’s ability to pin and re-pin content found on Pinterest to an Extension-branded page. To address copyright concerns, Pinterest recently introduced the "nopin" code, which allows websites to block users from pinning their images, but this use of code is completely optional.
As a point of emphasis, Pinterest boards aren't private and are viewable upon creation. Images pinned to a board becomes part of that theme. When creating Extension-connected boards, these images become part of our “brand”.
Finally, Pinterest provides a mechanism to provide notification about possible copyright infringement: http://pinterest.com/about/copyright/dmca/. It appears the makers understand the potential for abuse of image pinning.
