I was initially confused - isn't the whole point of Pinterest to organize the cool stuff you find? Why would you need to organize it? (I've been pinning my fingers off since February, often lamenting, "Damn Pinterest for organizing the internet!" I realize that search engines and bookmarks serve the same purpose, I just particularly like the format of Pinterest - it's even replaced Google for me in some instances.)
The writer (she, I'm pretty sure) talked about how some links end up going bad, some are just to pictures with much-needed explanations, and she talked about (most importantly, in my opinion) the importance of the originator of the content getting the credit.
Realizing that I want my Pinterest to be the best that it can be - actually helpful and functional - I knew that I needed to go through all of my pins. As I publish this post, I have 485 pins and 26 boards, so it's currently a slow, plugging-along kind of progress - but progress nonetheless. I wanted to share my specific strategies in this process because - I think - some of these things will make Pinterest a better place in general.
As I go through my pins and boards, I remind myself to:
Give credit where it's due.
Pinterest itself makes note of this in the Pinterest 101 section, but I think the concept bears repeating.
I'm dismayed by how many images there are on Pinterest (especially the step-by-step ones!) that don't link to the creator's original post or even mention them. Isn't that why we publish stuff...to get a little bit of credit for the work we've done? (I feel simultaneously selfish and justified on this point.)
At the same time, I don't want it to seem like I'm the one taking credit for other people's ideas.
I think the best way to do this is to try to find where the pin originated from. For example, I have this pin, but it only links to a step-by-step image (which does give credit, but doesn't include the exact link). I found the original blog post and added the link to the description. This may take a little digging and a few more clicks than usual, but I think it's worth it in the end. (In some cases I would just create a brand new pin with the same content, but I liked the compactness of the picture in this case.)
Write your own detailed descriptions.
I didn't do this at all for most of my first pins. I just repinned, and repinned, and repinned, and repinned......... and it made for a little bit of a mess.
Firstly, it gives the impression that you authored the description yourself - which can be awkward if you don't read the description until later on ("Can't wait to do this for my son's birthday!" I don't have a son, lol).
Secondly, it may seem like the pin offers more than just a picture (like a tutorial). Many of my pins are just images, but now I make note of that in the description. I also note if the source is in another language.
Click on the link.
I also rarely did this when I started out, and it ties directly into my previous point. I get super disappointed when I think I'll be sent to a great how-to blog post, but it turns out to be a site just like Pinterest in a different language - it gives me inspiration but no help with execution. Again, detailed descriptions help with this, too.
Make your boards specific when you need them to be.
I started out thinking that I would only need a few boards. It quickly became clear that a few simply wasn't enough. Since one of my favorite hobbies is crocheting, I have tons of crochet pins. "Crochet" became too vague, so I created "Crochet: inspiration"; "Crochet: free patterns"; "Crochet: patterns for sale"; and "Crochet: techniques and tutorials". I also categorized my recipes - sweets, drinks, dinner. I currently only have one board for sewing with a few pins on it, but as I add sewing pins I'll probably add more boards. This has been SO much more helpful when I want to find things again.
I think it also makes it nicer for people who follow you, too. I love that I have the option to follow select boards to ensure that my home feed is full of things that I like and thin on those that I don't.Yes please, "Sewing tips". No thank you, "Paleo diet" (that's just me though, and god bless anyone who can stick to the paleo diet).
Clean up.
Simply delete (or re-describe) pins to blogs that have been removed or have bad content, unless you can't live without the image for some reason, and make notes in the description.
In the post that lead me to doing this, the author noted that it took her 3 solid hours to go through her Pinterest. I personally wouldn't have that much time to do it all at once (I imagine many others who read this wouldn't either) so I've been going from board to board, pin by pin - I had started doing each pin as it appeared in the list of all my pins - that felt super overwhelming very quickly. I've also started practicing what I call "responsible pinning" where I do all of the aforementioned as I repin, instead of after.
Moral of the Story:
I don't claim to be any kind of an expert on Pinterest - I am certainly not one. But I do think that Pinterest is a valuable tool, and my fellow Pinners and I should do our best to maintain it and keep it amazing.
Updated 7/1/13: Shortly after publishing this post, Pinterest announced that they had added a feature that lets you search only your pins, which has become super helpful - even for someone whose pins are pretty organized.
In addition, I feel compelled to note that I've been disappointed lately by how many image-only and "3rd party" pins I've run into. It's made me realize how important it is to watermark your pictures - not only for proper credit, but to give Pinners a place to look when they want more info about the image. I feel a responsibility to skip repinning a link to a "repinned" site and create a pin straight from the source - it's just so much easier to navigate to where the information is actually located.
Let's continue to keep Pinterest inspiring, helpful, and amazing!
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