Pros & Cons of Pinterest
Pros and Cons of Pinterest
Planning a wedding, party, event, house renovation or even just want to save fonts you like? Chances are you’re probably using Pinterest! Now whilst I do love it, there are definitely some pros and cons of using Pinterest to help you plan.
PROS
Search Engine
Pinterest is basically one huge, awesome version of Google images (other search engines are available) So you have the ability to search a word or phrase and a whole bunch of awesome related content will appear before your very eyes, and unlike Google where you have to save the image and either end up with a HORRENDOUSLY messy desktop or a huge downloads folder of images name “ahdjs183064.jpg”, with Pinterest you can simply ‘save’ the image to a board of your choice and it’s there for ever more!
Multiple boards
You can have as many boards as you like, so when wedding planning this can be super helpful for keeping your cake ideas separate to your flower ideas, which also makes it easier on your suppliers if you share your boards as they won’t need to go through 1000 images to pick out your specific ideas. You can also invite other people to your boards so you can make sure your florists or bridesmaids keep up to date every time you add to your board.
Secret boards
Planning a surprise party, or have something you don’t want a follower to see? Easy – Create a secret board! The beauty of these is unless you invite someone specific to your board no one else can see what you pin to them. When it comes to styled shoots or my own wedding (I’m not even engaged!) I love using secret boards as I can happily pin all the things I love without anyone else knowing just how crazy I am…
Cons
Unrealistic expectations
So as good as it, obviously like everything, there are some cons. The main one I think is that it often can give people unrealistic expectations. I love when couples send me their Pinterest boards, particularly for photography ideas, it gives me a real good indication beforehand of what look you’re going with and what you’re wanting in terms of your couple shots. I do however often see people pining over these beautiful California sunset kissed photos, running across a sandy beach. Now as much as I want to give you the images you want, I can’t perform miracles and if you’re getting married in the middle of an industrial town centre on a Saturday in November you’re probably not going to get those images!
Copyright issues
Its super easy for people to pin images and change captions, which often means that as the image travels around the Pinterest atmosphere copyright and links back to the original poster can get lost. Its then easy for other people to save, download and share images. Particularly those of artists, illustrators and photographers and pass them off as their own – which is totally not cool!
Time & procrastination
Okay so the one we are definitely ALL guilty off is spending way too much time on Pinterest! Honestly, I go on there for to search for one thing, or because my phone pings and tells me I’m missing ’10 pins in Harry Potter boards’ so, naturally, I go on to check it out… Que 3 hours later where I’ve now planned my 30th birthday and Christmas for the next 2 years – And have got 0 work done. Oops.
So to summarise a little, don’t get me wrong I love Pinterest, but just be careful to use it wisely and not get too carried away with planning things. If you have any other thoughts, good or bad, I’d love to hear in the comments! If you’ve booked me then please feel free to share your Pinterest board so I can be super nosy.