This is Nan. Hi, Nan! She’s a blogger, a mom to two terrific kids, and a wife. She lives in Texas but if you look at her Pinterest Shoes! board, there’s not one single pair of boots, Nan likes heels! Nan was one of three O2O members to win a BlissDom conference pass from our December giveaway!

O2O: “What is your best memory from or the one thing you felt you really took away from BlissDom ’12?”

Nan: “I came away from Blissdom with that same desire I used to have to photograph the world around me. To live my dream with my camera not as tool but as an extension of me, of who I am.”

I’m known for…advocacy for special needs.

I’m working on…getting back to photography which I loved but let go of.

10 years from now I…hope to still be blogging and sharing and selling my photographs.

I’m currently addicted to…twitter and have been since I first started with it.

I find joy…in my children’s loving eyes.

My secret ambition…is to be a travel photographer/blogger.

I can’t do without…the love and support of my husband and children.

I’m most creative…when behind my camera or with pencil/charcoal and art paper as that is what I love to draw with.

I admire…my son who even with all his struggles never gives up, dreams big, laughs, lives without fear, and loves the most genuine love possible.

When I grow up…I want to be like my friend Jennifer Houck. She’s been an inspiration and guide into the world of blogging to me from as far back as I can remember.

PC or Mac? PC mostly but have both.

iPhone or Droid? Droid

Coffee or Tea? Sweet Tea

Peanut butter – crunchy or smooth? Crunchy, love the crunch.

Three words my friends would use to describe me are: Strong, Supportive, Dedicated

Do you have a favorite quote that inspires you? Not sure if you’d consider it a quote or not but here is a line I like to remember: “A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes” – Cinderella

Where to find Nan on the Internet:
Blog – A Mom Blog
Twitter
Facebook
Pinterest

Pinterest, the newest social media sensation that took the Internet by storm in 2011, has recently come under scrutiny for it’s carefully worded Terms of Service. Terms that hoist all copyright liability onto the user and give vague and broad image license to the company. It’s given quite a few bloggers and other users some pause when they consider the ramifications of what could happen.

Last month, popular DIY and craft blogger Amy Locurto of Living Locurto, wrote on her blog about the issue of images being hosted on Pinterest that has her rethinking the way she blogs and pins. She says:

“When someone pins your photo, it goes onto the Pinterest’s servers. You no longer have control of that image, Pinterest does. If you don’t want your image on Google or Yahoo, you just delete it from your blog or server. You don’t have that option with Pinterest. It’s there for anyone to repin and take whether you want them to or not.”

This can be extremely disheartening to bloggers who are working hard on their unique brand. There is already enough blatant misuse of copyrighted photos on the Internet as it is, but the Pinterest phenomenon seems to be making it much easier and much more rampant. Amy has decided to take action on her end by adding copyright language to all images she puts on her blog.

How does pinning violate copyright law? HubPages has an excellent summary of that.

“Copyright is the legal right of artists, authors, and photographers to decide how their own work is copied. (They may sell this right, and thus profit from their work.)

Therefore, giving credit and a link back does not satisfy copyright. You need permission.

Fair use does not say “it’s okay to repost someone’s work if you don’t make money on it.” “

Lawyer turned blogger, Sara Hawkins has also addressed the issue of copyright on her blog, Saving for Someday.

“Much of the issues related to copyright problems come about because the law is not straightforward. There is a great deal of wiggle room in copyright, which tends to fall under the category of Fair Use. And while there are licensing issues that are addressed in the Pinterest Terms and Conditions, the fact that people don’t read them combined with a lack of understanding of what Copyright Fair Use really is means that problems are bound to happen.”

Sara offers five ways to avoid copyright pitfalls on Pinterest which include, for the Pinterest user “always pin from the original source” and for the blogger/photographer/artist, “consider using watermarks” on your images.

On the heels of these revelations, Kirsten Kowalski, another lawyer turned photographer/blogger, wrote an emotionally charged blog post about why she deleted her pin boards. Turns out when she dug into Pinterest’s Terms of Service, she found out that she, the user, could be sued for violating copyright but Cold Brew Labs LLC (the company that owns Pinterest) would not be:

“This “defend and indemnify” stuff means that if some photographer out there decides that he or she does not want you using that photogs images as “inspiration” or otherwise and decides to sue you and Pinterest over your use of that photog’s images, you will have to hire a lawyer for yourself and YOU will have to hire a lawyer for Pinterest and fund the costs of defending both of you in court. Not only that, but if a court finds that you have, in fact, violated copyright laws, you will pay all damages assessed against you and all damages assessed against Pinterest. OUCH. Oh, but it gets better. Pinterest reserves the right to prosecute you for violations. Basically, Pinterest has its keester covered and have shifted all of the risk to you. Smart of them, actually since the courts are still deciding whether the site owner or the user should be ultimately responsible. Rather than wait for the decision, they have contractually made you the responsible one. And you agreed. (And by “you” I clearly mean “we”).”

Pinterest has not ignored all of this and shortly after the initial outcry, implemented an “opt-out code” that could be placed on a website so that images could not be directly pinned from it. There are numerous problems with this as Plagiarism Today points out:

“…several problems with the opt out system are instantly obvious.

1. Not All Artists Can Opt-Out: If you don’t have control over your site’s template, such as being a Flickr user, you can’t add the code and, thus, you can’t opt-out. Unlike Google, which provides other means of removing your site, Pinterest only provides the code.
2. It Doesn’t Stop All Pins: With Google, mostly Google Image Search, already the second most popular source for pins, Pinterest’s opt-out system won’t stop a large amount of the unwanted pinning that takes place.
3. The Future: Finally, if we have to add a line of code to block Pinterst, what happens when the inevitable wave of Pinterest clones come around? Will artists have to add a separate line for each of them?”

Flickr does, in fact, have a way to “opt-out” of pinning. Katherine Tyrrell, of Making a Mark, has an excellent tutorial on Flickr privacy and sharing settings.

Incidentally, Katherine also successfully had all her pinned images removed from Pinterest’s website. She explains why and how in a two part series. If you are serious about your work not being used on Pinterest, follow Katherine’s advice and directions to have it removed.

In the end, it’s up to the user to decide how they will use Pinterest. Blogger Amy Lynn Andrews offers precautionary steps that everyone who uses Pinterest can take, including “don’t use the embed feature” and “pin only from sites that have the ‘Pin It’ button”.

Here at O2O, we’re using Pinterest to help promote blog posts that our members produce when they join a project. We also produced a pin board to help promote blog posts about BlissDom. If we are ever asked to remove a pin, we will do so happily and willingly.

UPDATED March 28, 2012 – Last week, Pinterest updated it’s Terms of Service, Acceptable Use Policy, and Privacy Policy. In a blog post, the Pinterest team summed up the most significant changes. In regards to being able to sell images you’ve uploaded to their site they say:

“Our original Terms stated that by posting content to Pinterest you grant Pinterest the right for us to sell your content. Selling content was never our intention and we removed this from our updated Terms.”

But the only indication they give about the question of copyright infringement is:

“We released simpler tools for anyone to report alleged copyright or trademark infringements.”

It was encouraging to see this acknowledgment near the end of the post:

“We’ve gotten a lot of help from our community as we’ve crafted these Terms.”

Good to know they really are listening.

Have any of these recent copyright revelations changed the way you use Pinterest? Let us know in the comments!

It’s probably no surprise that the month following gift giving holidays is National Thank You Month! I remember my mother making me sit down and write out thank you notes every year after Christmas and before I went back to school. It’s becoming a bit of a lost art and one that I’ve regrettably not (yet) passed on to my own children. So it’s Pinterest to the rescue for some “pinteresting” ideas for saying thank you in January and all year ’round.

Fun for holiday thank you notes:

 

Lots of variations on this theme on Wedding boards:

 

For the Hollywood buffs:

 

These are super cute:

 

Unique idea for baby shower thank-yous:

 

Useful for the Pre-K set:

 

And useful for the beginning writers:

 

Gratitude is beautiful in any language:

 

Save postage with thank you postcards:

 

Teachers love notes of appreciation & these are perfect for the task:

 

Flattery will get you everywhere:

 

For the coffee aficionado:

 

What are some of your favorite ways to say ‘thank you’?

Patty is a born and raised New Yorker who chronicles her life at A Day in My NYC. She loves her family, fashion, photography and the New York Jets! As her tagline, ‘Living healthier in the city I love’ indicates, she also blogs about weight loss, staying fit and being healthy. Patty is part of the Friends You Love power team of bloggers! We’re delighted that she was able to take a New York minute (or five) and indulge us by answering our interview questions. Thanks, Patty!

I’m working on…taking my blog to the next level. Exciting changes coming soon.

10 years from now I…hope to be a wife and mother. Hopefully running my own business.

I’m currently addicted to…Pinterest! It’s the best site to save all your favorite links.

It really annoys me when…people are late.

I find joy…in spending time with my family and friends.

I can’t do without…my NY Jets football and my iPhone!

I’m most creative…when I am writing or taking pictures.

When I grow up…I will always remember to stay a kid at heart.

Coffee or tea? Definitely coffee but I am developing a new love for tea, specifically Pomegranate Green Tea.

PC or Mac? Without a doubt…MAC!

iPhone or Droid? iPhone is the most perfect phone.

Twitter or Facebook? Tough one but definitely Twitter.

Pickles – sweet or dill? Sweet!

Where you can find Patty online:
Blog: A Day in My NYC
Twitter: @NYCPatty and @ADayinMyNYC
Facebook: A Day in My NYC

Pinterest is the latest and greatest Internet obsession that has everyone talking. It’s one of those things that I wish I had thought of. It makes perfect sense, especially to those who are highly visual learners, like me!

If you’re not familiar with it, I find that the best way to explain it is as a visual bookmarking site. It’s the online version of tearing recipe, hairstyle, outfit, and decorating ideas out of a magazine and pinning them to a corkboard or sticking them to the refrigerator with a magnet. Except instead of adding clutter to your walls and appliances, you can make as many virtual boards as you want to accommodate all the fabulous stuff you find on the Internet.

The most common thing I hear people saying about Pinterest is how easily you can get sucked in and “waste” time looking at all the pretty, inspiring, amazing, funny things that people pin to their boards. But it’s also a fun way to pass some time when you’re burnt out on other online activities. One2One Network member, Justice Fergie, says in her MomCrunch article about Pinterest, “Whenever I need to unwind at the end of the evening or am looking for something mindless to do that uplifts the spirits and entertains, I find myself turning to Pinterest.”

Did you know Pinterest can also be a valuable tool for bloggers? I often use it to research ideas for my One2One Network and Blissfully Domestic articles. This is a board I started for a Fourth of July article:

Bloggers can also see what articles of theirs have been pinned on Pinterest. This tip from Alli Worthington will help you see which of your posts are popular with readers and “pinners”!

Use the following URL set up to do it: http://pinterest.com/source/blissfullydomestic.com/  - will show you all the pins from Blissfully Domestic. Now I can find other fans of the website and readers who are enjoying the content from the site. I can also see at a glance which articles are popular with the Pinterest crowd and how they are responding. Replace the /source/blissfullydomestic.com part with your our url to see what’s being pinned from your site, and who is pinning it in what topic areas.

You can also increase traffic to your site by pinning your own articles on Pinterest. When you work hard on a post that includes photos showing steps in a recipe or a DIY project, you have created a very pin-worthy post! When you write a post about how you found a creative way to store Legos or spices or how made over your laundry room, don’t hesitate to share it on Pinterest just like you would share it on Twitter or Facebook. Just remember that your post must include images (your own or properly credited ones) in order to be pinned.

I hope this gives you some food for thought about how Pinterest can be a useful tool for you and not just a dizzying trip into Wonderland! Now, let’s have some fun. Are you on Pinterest? If so, link your profile here so that we can all follow each others boards! If you’re not on Pinterest, you need an invite to join. I can definitely help you with that. Just leave a comment requesting an invite and the email address where you’d like the invite to be sent.

Tell us, what is your favorite thing about being on Pinterest?

Pinterest definition & happy place graphics found on Kristi Quill’s “Pinteresting” pin board.