It’s not that I’m the last person in the Westernized world to get a Pinterest account. I knew it was out there, but I’ve been actively avoiding it. However, reports from various blogging friends, who say their stats are going through the roof because of Pinterest pinning, led me to reluctantly sign up. Still, I was hoping I could figure out a way to get the most of the benefits while putting in minimum effort. You see, I’ve been doing that quite successfully with Twitter. I have a plug-in that automatically Tweets with a link every time I post to this blog and another plug-in that randomly selects and Tweets one of my old posts. So Twitter is covered. Except for rare occasions — such as debates which I love to Live Tweet — I confine my participation to Robo-Tweeting.
So it was with a certain amount of confidence that I thought I could do the same with Pinterest. Apparently, Social Media has gotten smarter since the advent of Twitter and its determined to demand more of your time. Or at least it does if you have a WordPress blog like this one.
Imagine my surprise to learn that wonderful photos like this one of Oscar as a pup are completely unpinnable.
I guess it makes sense. WordPress and my server host are all about security. Pinterest is all about appropriating with abandon. Each is so adamant in their agenda that there doesn’t seem to be any overlap.
Hence this essentially pointless post filled with unrelated doggie photos.
Bear with me as I upload photos using different methodologies in an attempt to find a work-around. Feel free to pin any of these pix. And let me know what worked for you.
In the meantime, excuse me if I’m grumpy, angry and…well…distinctly anti-social today. It’s that damn Social Media.
One more gratuitous Smooth Fox Terrier picture for the road.
Good Luck with the Pinterest thing. I know a young mom who goes away for scrapbooking weekends. She loves it. All kinds of crafty stuff she finds on that site and posts to Facebook. She has a two year old and a five year old (tomorrow). Like Jon Stewart I mainly use FB to look at pictures of small children 🙂
Pinterest seems to be uniquely suited to crafters. A shame the last time I even got near a craft was seventh grade when I offered to do a friend’s homework if she would weave the pot holder we had to make in Home Ec.
We did what I later learned was decoupage in Home Ec. I had a wise teacher who let me stain the board extra dark and use a strange Science magazine cover pic for the picture. Abstract mechanical face. Everybody else did flowers and dainty things. Still have it.
Pretty much all I had in me.
No post containing puppy pictures could be entirely gratuitous! Love Baby Oscar’s enormous puppy paws and baby snout! And what’s with the proper Terrier ears? At what point did they decide to stick up? Both of them were just darling babies. I wish I had known mine when they were small.
He started with his ears folded, then one by one they started migrating up. He walked around for a time with one ear up and one ear down. Now he’s strictly an ears-up guy.
I’ll happily stick with the WordPress security, but I confess liking Pinterest for some great ideas for the yard and garden. I’ve “pinned” a wind chime that I adore, so that I can easily show my husband (and click through to let it “sing”) at least once a week until I wear him down. Pinterest has also been great for recipes, but that would mean that I bring the computer into the kitchen… so perhaps it’s just about the pictures of food?
Pinterest is a bigger time-suck than facebook or twitter. And that is saying a lot!
I’m in the process of redefining my Pinterest strategy. I think I’m unwilling to give up the security of WordPress to allow people the unlimited ability to pin my pictures. I’m finding that if I upload my pictures to Pinterest with a link back to the blog, people come back here to read. And they can easily share the pix I’ve posted up.