Something happened to me the other night.
It’s happened before, but this time was a little different because I found it on Pinterest in a group board I’m in with a few hundred other bloggers and design/DIY professionals.
What happened?
My blog content was stolen and put on another site- pictures and my word-for-word tutorial.
It’s happened before…many times in fact. I’ll do a random search on Google and find my content scraped on many sites.
Usually I just brush it off. Write the ‘content stealer’ a firm email and the post comes down. No biggie.
What made this time unusual and specifically upsetting was I found it on Pinterest, pinned by a fellow group board member, with my recipe tutorial clearly written in the description box(which defeats the purpose of someone clicking on the picture and going to my site for the recipe tutorial), and not caring that the watermark (the blog name written on the picture) didn’t match up to the source it was being pinned from.
So what’s the big deal?
It’s a HUGE deal, and its come to my attention from a friend that many of you don’t realize how big a deal it is.
This one post in particular…The one that was stolen from my blog was re-pinned incorrectly over 5,000 times in a little over a month before I caught it. That 5,000 might be 25,000 times next month and continuously spreading…
If you love blogs then you MUST read this, because you might be guilty of reckless pinning and don’t even realize what you’re doing wrong.
Ready to hear what really happens when pins go WILD?
I’d like you to meet Jane…
Jane is a blogger.
She’s a great blogger too.
Jane loves to make pretty crafts,
and share them on Pinterest to inspire others like Suzy.
Meet Suzy…
Suzy loves to look at Jane’s crafts and pin them on Pinterest.
Suzy loves Jane, and Suzy LOVES what Jane blogs about.
Every time Suzy goes to Jane’s blog, Jane makes a teeny tiny amount of money from sponsors.
That money helps Jane buy things to make more crafts that Suzy will love, and pin on Pinterest.
See where I’m going with this?
Now meet Fred…
Fred isn’t a nice guy.
He doesn’t know who Jane is,
but he sees that her crafts are popular on Pinterest.
Fred goes to Jane’s blog.
Fred copies Jane’s craft tutorial and pastes it onto his site.
Only thing is his site is filled with advertisements,
and he puts them all over Jane’s craft tutorial.
Fred pins his version of Jane’s tutorial onto Pinterest.
Suzy sees Jane’s pretty craft picture on Pinterest and pins it.
Only thing is this pin is not from Jane’s blog.
It’s from Fred’s website.
Suzy doesn’t look at where the pin is taking her, she just sees a pretty picture.
When Suzy’s friends see the pin…
They pin it…
Then their friends pin it…
…and their friends…
……and their friends…….
Soon, Fred’s website traffic increases and he’s making LOTS of money!
….and Jane….
Her blog traffic started slowly disappearing….
Now Jane doesn’t have any more money to make pretty crafts,
that Suzy likes to pin on Pinterest.
So what happened???
Well…
When Suzy pinned that one wrong picture,
one turned into 3 repins…
that turned into 12…
that turned into 1200….
By pinning that one wrong picture, you have supported a criminal.
It’s true…
Fred is a criminal because he stole copyrighted property.
So next time you pin a pretty picture on Pinterest…
Make sure your pin is really taking you to the correct website,
and if it’s not…report it.
Pinterest would really be a cruddy place if it was filled with Freds.
And after all, there wouldn’t even be a Pinterest without the Janes.
This blog post was created to find the humor in this situation, but in reality it has been a major headache for me and others who have had their blog material stolen. Regular “Suzys” who use Pinterest don’t realize how hard the “Janes” work to bring you beautiful pictures, home decor, fashion advice, craft tutorials, how to’s, etc…Please do your part to pin responsibly, and look at the website before you repin. We have enough “Freds” in the world…help and support the “Janes.”
Thanks for reading and feel free to pin, tweet, like, and stumble! Help me spread the word!
XO
Great post, Christine ! I have been stolen from too and know the feeling – I do not make any money from my blog but I really try to post something interesting and I spend a lot of time on my photos, as I do not have an expensive luxury camera, therefore I get very angry when I find my content elsewhere. The new, or maybe not so new, excuse is that they add a tiny link to the original blog, but if the full post is there for their readers, why would they bother to click over to the original site? Anyhow, you handle it much better than I can, trying to work in some humor ! Pinning this and hoping people will take notice 🙂
Linda@With A Blast recently posted…Quick Homemade Marshmallow
Thanks so much Linda! It really does stink and I’m hoping this post will wake some people up. I’m happy to report that this particular site that stole my content, was more than understanding, but a lot of sites really do not care about anyone but themselves, and I’m tired of it! Hopefully people will see the true meaning of this story behind the humor 🙂 Fingers crossed. XO
Wow! This is a quite impressive post. I didn’t realize the extent to the damage all of this causes. Credit should always go where credit is due. When on Pinterest I do my best to check the pins to make sure that go to the original site and that they link directly to the post and not just to the blog itself. If I embed a pinned image, I know that Pinterest links back to that pin, but I also tell my readers not to repin from my page, but to go to the original page and pin from there. I hope others will do the same. With or without sponsors.
BTW, I haven’t been here in a while. Since school started back, my blog days have not been the same. I love the new look of your blog. 🙂
Libby recently posted…Will it Happen or Not?
Aww you’re the sweetest Libby…Thank you!
It does do a lot of damage and that’s what possessed me to write about it, because I don’t think people realize (even if they aren’t bloggers) how important it is to give proper credit where it’s due. Thankfully, this last particular person was very understanding and is linking my posts correctly now, but the damage has been done. Her posted content (mine) was repined 5,000 times before I caught it (with the recipe clearly written in the description box on Pinterest) meaning, that people have no need to click on the link to head over here. It makes me cringe to think about all the potential income I lost!
Thanks so much for this. I’m not a blogger but a great lover and appreciator of all the wonderful work that bloggers do. It has only been recently that I’ve come to understand the issues on Pinterest about the accurate sourcing and pinning. It’s so simple and quick to get started without a true understanding of where the pins and images come from and what they mean to the individuals creating them. Thanks for increasing my understanding even more!
First, let me say how much I appreciate and love bloggers. You all have a gift of patience and creativity that many do not. You are also looking at Pinterest as a way of marketing and the average user is not. Most of us were under the impression that our pin boards were just for our own personal use, for things we may want to one day try, or as springboards for other ideas – not for promoting your blog and helping you make money. I totally understand what you are saying, but as a user who just wants a good chicken recipe, I am totally going to type all the directions in the comment section to save myself time the next time I want to make that chicken. If I had all the time in the world, I would most definitely check all the sources and turn in all the thieves, but honestly, I barely have enough time to get that chicken dinner on the table. Please forgive me for not realizing Pinterest was all about the bloggers and thinking it was all about me. I still love you, Bloggers!
Natalie,
I totally understand what your saying and agree on some level. But, you also need to be careful because that recipe is copyrighted and if you did it to the wrong person they could come after you for copyright infringement.
The recipe tutorial that was stolen from me was from my EBook which people had to purchase to get. That person took the recipe out of my EBook and displayed it to the world. It was wrong, and stuff like that shouldn’t be done.
Great post Christine! Thanks so much for writing it. I loved your storybook approach to the subject. 🙂 There are so many people who don’t realize the blogger side of Pinterest, and you made it so simple to understand. I’ll definitely be sharing this post, and pinning it. 😉
Ginny @ Organizing Homelife recently posted…Organized Blog Planner & Multitasking Binder Giveaway
Thanks a million Ginny! I tried to make it as simple as possible, so the “Suzys” of Pinterest would understand. Here’s hoping some will understand the lesson behind the silly cartoon 🙂
Thanks for writing this post! I had no idea that this was happening. We have our designs copyrighted but there are always those who disregard it. I love how you told it with humor. I wonder how many of my designs have been stolen. 🙁
I will pin this…
I am sort of confused with this. And I certainly would’t want to enable the theft from any of your intellectual properties. I really appreciate all of you who share your talents with the rest of us. But if I am interested in pinning somethng, I usually follow it to the source listed under the photo, rather than just click on “repin”. I do this to make it easier for someone (including myself) to find the item without getting lost in Pin World. Is this right or wrong?
Jay
For the most part that’s right Jay. Unfortunately, some of the websites that are pinning photos are taking copyrighted photos and using it for their gain. For instance, if you click on a photo that is of a ham recipe, then the website should have that ham recipe with the photo. If you click on the ham recipe and it takes you to a site that has clothing, or vacation tips, then common sense should tell you this photo has been stolen. But there are the cases where the entire post has been scraped from someones website including the photo- these are harder to detect. A normal Pinterest user wouldn’t have any idea that this is stolen unless they looked at the URL and watermark (copyright signature on the photo) and they didn’t match up. As long as you are actually going to the websites and checking out the source before pinning, then you’re doing exactly what your supposed to, and using Pinterest the way it was intended to be used. This post was more directed towards the people who just pin pictures over and over without ever checking the links or looking at the websites these photos came from.
There are scraper sites that take images from POD sites like RedBubble and post them on their sites with PINIT buttons even when the nopin code is on the page. When pinned, these link back to the sraper site and then to a unrelated site that selling wight loss ect
Many photographer embed a copyright notice and a link to their website in the metadata of the image, BUT Pinterist removes this when the image is pinned This is a violation of the DMCA
Thanks for the info. I misunderstood how to do this. Is there a way for pinrest to not show “repin” until we click onto the sight? I repinned the picture then went into sight when I had more time. I apologize to everyone. Now I will just “like” until I have more time. Thanks again for the information.
Thank you SO much for explaining this! I am new to Pinterest and had no idea about this. I will be a more responsible pinned because of your post!
Thank you for that Jo!
I love Pinterest I have had a couple of pins not take me where I was supposed to go so I just deleted the pin…thanks for explaining why this is so important this was very enlightening
Thank you ! Your explanation was SPOT ON …. I receive so many interesting looking pins that I don’t have time to go to the original website, ergo – pin now, read later. I DO go back when I have downtime to check the website, but I have to shamefully admit to pin now, read later time restraints. HOWEVER, the times that clicking on the picture did NOT take me where it seems it should (one time it was a picture of a weed-free garden with the caption ( where did the weeds go? ) and it took me to a list of businesses links such as accessories, clothing, sports, etc. I did not know what to legally do about it, so I put a WARNING in the comments that this link is misleading and explained what happened. That way, anyone that sees the pin will know to NOT use it. What should I do when I do come across these misleading links? and what, SPECIFICALLY, should I look for if I am looking at at the pin before clicking to the website ( i.e., pin now read later) ? thanks again — my daughter makes a good living blogging so i know this issue is a serious one.
WOW! I had no idea….I know I must be guilty! I have literally pinned hundreds of things and plan on reading them “one day.” My apologies to all of you fabulous bloggers out there! I promise to do my homework from now on! Great post!
No worries Tisha! Thanks for taking the time to read it! 🙂
Thanks for this post. I do pin other bloggers but try and also give them a shout out in my comments section. One thing I have done particularly with blogs on organizing because i am a professional organizer, is that I will pin the post directly from the blog after I have verified it, then give a shout out in the comments and then let people know that if they want to implement ideas similar to that but dont’ know how they can contact me at my website, BUT I make sure the pin links to the blog I pinned it from, and that I talk about them too in addition to. Is that ok?
If I don’t have time to “pin through” to the original website, and I simply “pin now to look at later”, is there anything I can look for to “spot” the “fakes” ? My daughter makes a good living blogging, and I visit LOTS of great blogging sites that I LOVE. I want to do what is right. Thanks….