We hopped on that bandwagon after some coaxing from a few blogging friends and have been uh-ddicted... it's on our home computers, our iPhones, our iPad and we find ourselves in conversation referring to things as "pinteresting" or "pin worthy." Sometimes I think we need a pin-tervention! lol
That being said, though, we can't help but wonder if Pinterest is good or bad for little blogs like ours?
We ♥ that when we went to open the page today, a project from Lolly Jane was right there in the corner....
We ♥ that people see our projects and like them enough to pin them....
But, we hate that our comments have gone down.
But, we hate that a lot of them are just an image and don't link back to Lolly Jane's site.
We ♥ that we see imitation/knock-off's of our projects...
But, we hate that they're not referenced and instead reads, "I saw this on Pinterest but don't know who created it..."
We ♥ that it's so darn inspirational...
Image via Super Mar
But, we hate that we waste spend so much time browsing!
We ♥ that we can go to Pinterest to look up an idea...
But, we hate that we get distracted with so much cute stuff that we forget what we went on there for. LOL
We ♥ that it's so user-friendly and keeps us organized...
But, we hate that we rarely go back to our cute boards.
And we ♥ that it is one of our top referring sites, giving us boat loads of traffic. There's no hating on this one ;)
We ♥ Pinterest.
We really, really do.
And when we continue to see something inspirational, handy, mouth dropping or just pretty, we will still {as a generic Pinterest user} click the "Pin It" button and may be a hypocrite and not reference the original site to say a quick thanks ;) As a blogger, though, we try to find the site and leave a comment. A small thank you for helping our boards get filled with beauty :)
It's exciting to see things we made on Pinterest, it really is. We ♥ that perfect strangers read our little blog and look to it for inspiration and pin it for later reference. We ♥ our readers and if you made it through this whole post, let us know if you have any cons to Pinterest. We're just curious if anyone else feels this way. No? It's the most amazing site in the world and you're on it right now?
Well, we might just be crazy :)
Well, we might just be crazy :)
I'm with you...as a very teeny, tiny blog, it's fun to see my creations pop up around Pinterest and it's nice to see the traffic from it...but I tend to a feel a little "used" when I don't hear anything from anyone or see any increase in my following, even though there have been thousands of hits on one project. :(
ReplyDeleteAh well! I definitely appreciate the original concept of having a place to organize the things I like, or projects I want to try, etc.!
evie @ brown paper packages
Great post - I definitely agree with everything you said. There is always so much praise out there for Pinterest {and I am a big fan!} but there are definitely negatives as well. Although I get a ton of traffic from Pinterest, my comments have gone way down too. It's always nice to have a little reminder to try and link back to the original post and leave a little love! :)
ReplyDeleteJenn
Thanks for re-posting my Pinterest artwork and for crediting my blog! You are awesome. I couldn't agree more about Pinterest. I LOVE it but also have the same issues you do with it. I don't think I'll ever stop using it though. It's just so darn handy and addicting and, like you said, generates so much blog traffic! I guess all I can do myself is be better at sourcing where the things I pin came from and continue to leave comments (like this) on blogs I get pins from. Thanks again!
ReplyDeleteAgreed. 100%. On EVERYTHING! Especially the lack of comments. :( I see a lot of pinning and less commenting. It makes me want to put a blurb at the top of my blog that says if you're here to pin, why not say hello, too? :)
ReplyDeleteYou girls crack me up. Pinterest is definitely GOOD and BAD, I will say that. :)
ReplyDeleteEvery single word you just wrote...I've thought it!!! LOL!! So true...but I would die without it, well...maybe not literally...but you know...
ReplyDeleteIf I find something on Pinterest I want to repin, sometims I go to the site and pin in it. I for one want to be able to see how they did it and if I like it that much, their site might have other things I like. :)
ReplyDeleteFrom a fellow pinner, it is equally frustrating to find someone's pin and try to follow though to the tutorial only to see they pinned it from a feed or from a blog's main page. Often I fix those before repinning.
ReplyDeleteP.S. I may have found you via Skip To My Lou, but I'll be attempting your haunted birdhouses, which I just pinned!
I feel the VERY same way. It totally bothers me if the pin that I am repinning is linked back to the blog, but not the actual post. Or when it's linked to a google image rather than the actual page the image came from. There is a small "pin it" button you can add to your posts to help minimize people linking/pinning incorrectly. I have started to add them to my posts...when I remember ;)
ReplyDeleteYou are not alone girls! I have a love/hate relationship with pinterest too :)
Agreed!
ReplyDeleteI have a teeny, tiny blog and only a handful of noteworthy projects. Last week I jumped out of my seat after seeing one of them pinned by someone, but, after taking a look it wasn't linked back to my blog. Then someone commented that it was great and would love to know the source.
I was going to comment and tell them to come to my blog, but, I felt like a prideful dummy doing that...so I didn't :(
this rings so true! You've hit the pin right on the head!!!
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh, AAAAAAAMEN. I couldn't have said it any better!
ReplyDeleteI agree too! I don't have much "out there" pinned, but most of what is pinned is definitely not from any of my followers. And I've never heard a peep from any of them. Good point you made about going to the blog to comment. I'm gonna make a habit of that. You know " do unto others as you would have them do unto you"
ReplyDeleteI feel exactly the same way! On all counts! My comments have definitely gone down...but I still love it for my own personal use...and where possible I try to link back to the original source when I pin...It's just good karma! :)
ReplyDeleteI have many of the same thoughts about pinterest. Mostly I love it, but I do have qualms. I am interested to know though, you said that your craft night project was inspired by pinterest. What pin inspired you? You didn't reference it in your craft night post...
ReplyDeleteLindsay
Omg i feel like i wrote this post myself...actually im going to link it to my fb page because its soooo true!!! I also hate that i feel like i never have original ideas...even when i think its original ... Its somrwhere on pinterest already!!
ReplyDeleteI've been on Pinterest for awhile, but I'm still having a hard time figuring out the ins and outs of it. I honestly didn't know that if I repin something, it may not link to the original source. That totally bums me out because my whole purpose of pinning is so I can go find the tutorial and make it myself! But when I DO find time to go check out the tutorial or recipe or whatever, I try to always leave a comment.
ReplyDeleteI will say that it really bugs me when a blogger does an inspiration/feature/favorites/etc. post and instead of linking directly to the blog/original site, they just say that all the images came from Pinterest. I just think it's polite to give credit where credit is due; after all, Pinterest didn't create the project, a person somewhere did and I'm sure she/he would love to know that you liked it enough to feature it.
Hello! I have never even thought of some of these points and I love that you've challenged my thinking :)
ReplyDeleteI pinned your gorgeous bed! And I'm sure one or two others - i know I pinned that white hutch of yours too - that's how I found you :)
very new looking at the pinterest boards I can see that it could become very addictive...however I have never been able to "pin" ,there must be a huge waiting list to be accepted or ;you have to know someone to invite you . (sigh) I enjoy your blog...came here though Sunday scoop.
ReplyDelete