Should Wedding Planners and Designers be wary of Pinterest?

 Like Facebook and Twitter, I recently jumped on the latest internet craze, Pinterest!  Fellow planners, designers and even clients were all raving about what an amazing tool Pinterest is.  In short, it allows us creative types an outlet to show the world the things we love.

Brides use it because it allows them the ability to "pin" ideas they can later show their planner, designer, mother and friends.  Designers and planners use it because it allows them to archive fabulous ideas for later.  Ot it allows them to "sell" their ideas to their clients.

For both sides it is a win - win!

Or is it?

While skimming through Twitter yesterday, I happened on a tweet from someone I follow.  Her tweets are to the point, she knows what she's talking about when it comes to social media and how it can affect your business.  So, when @bevisible, aka Betsy Kent, tweeted the following, I took notice:

"Pinterest's Terms of Service: have you read them?  Terms of Service"

Honestly, I was in such a hurry that I didn't carefully read the terms of their agreement.  So I went to the article (you can too - just click the link above) for the International Business Times Tech & Trend and it carefully points out two very scary clauses in Pinterest's terms agreement that immediately made me reconsider joining the site.

In essence, you must own the content you pin, or you must have permission from the person who owns the content, to pin it.  It further states that once an item is pinned on the site, Pinterest or its creators then own the content which they can then sell and make a profit from.  Basically, they hold themselves harmless of any copyright infringement...You, the pinner, are responsible if you break the law by not seeking permission, and better yet, you cannot profit from the pin, only Pinterest can.

This raised a HUGE red flag for me because as I continue to build my brand, there is no way I am going to give someone else the right to profit from my images and ideas.  It's that simple.

So I caution my fellow designers, planners and even brides from "pinning" until Pinterest can rework their agreement whereby it works for everyone, not just the site.

Until next time -

Cheers!