Please Don’t Suck the Fun out of Pinterest!

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Copyright Issues. Legal Debacles. Ownership Debates.
Please, I’m just trying to pin.

This recent article: How to Protect Yourself on Pinterest [via Mashable] really peaked my interest. And made me a little bit angry.
Will we start seeing “You are allowed to pin this content” and “Do not pin this content” disclaimers on websites? I doubt the brands that are seeing enormous spikes in referral traffic will want to lose any of it due to these issues. As long as the pin directs back to the original source/website that should serve as “citing your source.”
Let’s Simply Set Some Rules & Best Practices:
1. Do not post anything with a watermark without permission
2. Do not claim anything is your own, unless you actually own it in it’s entirety
3. Pin from the original source (i.e. If you see a picture on tumblr, click to the original source before pinning)
4. If someone asks you to take your pin down because they own it, follow suit
5. If you really don’t want people to pin your content, post a disclaimer on your site (like photographers do on flickr)
6. Repins, Likes and Comments are secondary forms of engagement. Use them, but don’t abuse them.
7. Keep Calm and Pin On
…are we missing any rules? If so, tweet them to us @SocialLightUp!

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Background on The Social Lights
The Social Lights® is a social-first agency headquartered in Minneapolis that partners with clients to grow their business through strategy development, creative production, media buying, and social media management. Current clients include General Mills, Ecolab, Cargill, Caribou Coffee, Kwik Trip, Polaris and Massage Envy. The Social Lights was founded in 2011 and is a WBENC-Certified Women Business Enterprise. Learn more at The Social Lights.

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