Pinterest is a fabulous concept. User-curated content? Brilliant. The ability to collect and share images in meaningful themes? I love it. And for businesses, it's another vibrant way to enrich your brand story.
Something has made me feel uneasy about recommending it, or even using it personally, as part of a content strategy. It's just that, in order to share content from sites around the world, I need to either have permission to:
Sure, they add watermarks and links to the original source, and you could think of it like free advertising for those linked. But without permission, it feels a bit like copyright infringement. Do I want my company's images, graphics, and photos copied and posted elsewhere in entirety without permission? No, definitely not. So, how is this okay?
Then I read this post and this one from Business Insider. Interesting. So as a business owner, it's my responsibility, according to Pinterest (and YouTube, for that matter) to police the content of the Internet to ensure our work is not reused, stolen, or copied without permission. Or worse, add code to my site to prevent copying for every site like Pinterest. I don't like that. It basically means, it's okay steal from me, as long as I don't pay attention or complain.
The big problem is, so many people don't seem to realize they're infringing on someone else's property. And if they do, they don't know how, or it's simply too much of a pain, to request permission. Wouldn't it be great if Pinterest and other sites like it (e.g., Tumblr) could have an automatic system for permissions, so the content owner was pinged and allowed to provide an a-ok or nay? It's proactive, it makes it easy for people to do the right thing -- and we all get to do what we want: share. How exactly? I don't know. That's a technicality. But anything is possible, right? Will your company use Pinterest? What's your take?
Are Your Assets Being Stolen? Here's How to Find OutUsing Licensed Content
Shelly Bowen, MFA, is a content writer, content strategist, and founder of Pybop.
For decades, Shelly has written for businesses on complex topics from disease prevention and medical devices to alternative energy and leveraging data. Today, she's hyper-focused on supporting B-B technology businesses. In her spare time, she hikes, kayaks, draws, and works on her T-Bird.
A wide variety of brands rely on Shelly as an essential freelance writer and content strategy resource.
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