Where is my cut from Pinterest?

I just saw the news that Pinterest is making money off of people’s pinned content, unbeknown to the individual’s creating the bulletin boards.

As I learned via Shelly Kramer’s post (who learned it from Josh Davis), when you pin something that came from an ecommerce site, they quietly change the link so that clicks back to the ecommerce site and purchases there can be tracked. Pinterest gets paid for each purchase that resulted from a link on its site.

My question: If Pinterest is making money off my content, where’s my cut?

First, like Shelly, I am all for startups making money. Moreover, I’m all for startups that provide a great service to end-users and businesses, but charge the businesses. I think that’s an ideal business model.

But, this is essentially advertising. Pinterest, in a very smart twist, has gotten all of us to create their ads for them. They host a site where we, in a fervor of excitement, create content that advertises products. They then make money off of our ads.

If you are a blogger or a publisher and you put ads or affiliate links on your site, you get paid when people click or purchase. Of course, in this case Pinterest owns the site.

But, so does YouTube. YouTube’s model is similar. People go out and create original content because they enjoy it and like showing off. YouTube makes money from the ads placed on their site. Your videos draw people in. They click on the ad next to the video. YouTube gets paid. YouTube offers a way for the content creators to benefit monetarily, though. People who create a lot of original videos can join their Partnership Program and get a cut of the ad revenue.

So, Pinterest, I’m fine with you making money from my boards. But, where’s my cut?

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memory foam 5 pts

Wow, Interesting! I never thought of this! Now I know, well I'm sure that Pinterest has an answer for this.

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vivon 6 pts

Pinterest is one of my favorite social sites. I knew all along that they're somehow making a lot of money through the users' effort, but that's how everything works in the internet nowadays.

Social media consultant 13 pts

I really like Pinterest so hope this is just down to teething issues, but get the feeling it could be indicative of underlying problems. They have grown at amazing speed over the past few months and have a unique idea which is very addictive and retentive.

That being said: a snippet from Pinterest's Terms Of Service:

"By making available any Member Content through the Site, Application or Services, you hereby grant to Cold Brew Labs a worldwide, irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, royalty-free license, with the right to sublicense, to use, copy, adapt, modify, distribute, license, sell, transfer, publicly display, publicly perform, transmit, stream, broadcast, access, view, and otherwise exploit such Member Content only on, through or by means of the Site, Application or Services."

They're not just making money, but acquiring the legal rights to your content at the same time.

I just hope they sort out the recent problems as I use it everyday :(

kadeeirene 8 pts

I don't have a problem with them making money but sure, they should've been upfront and transparent from the beginning. However, I kind of have to agree with maryhruth and honestly think if pinners were to get a cut it could severely ruin the way Pinterest is being used now. I can understand if a blogger is doing an affiliate program with a company and pins a product that takes the pinner back to their blog/website with the affiliate link and that link is changed by Pinterest so they get the credit - then that would be an issue. I'm not sure if I'm understanding this right however.

maryhruth 27 pts

So wait, lemme see if I understand this. You are wild about a product you find online so you share it with others on Pinterest. It is not your product, but you think you deserve a cut of its sales because you shared it? Sorry, this sort of spits straight in the face of the basics of social media, IMHO. We share out of our fellowship and joi de vivre, not in order to make a buck. Now Pinterest, of course, as the vehicle, needs fuel, and it makes sense that the site should skim off the top. But I'm really not getting this idea that simply sharing things you appreciate is worth money in any direct way. Enlighten me?

EricaAllison 1306 pts

Wow. I of course had no idea...esp since I JUST got going on my boards this week. Always a buck to be made and unfortunately, less than above board tactics to do it. Boo on Pinterest.

ginidietrich 10272 pts

Here's the thing, though. They're doing it behind the scenes and very slyly. I'd be totally cool if they said, "We're going to change this link to an affiliate link." But, if I didn't live in Illinois where you can't do affiliate marketing (at least not through Amazon), I'd be pissed I wasn't getting the affiliate change myself. To me, this has less to do with them doing this and more that they're sneaking around to do it.

Neicolec 196 pts moderator

ginidietrich I agree with you that they shouldn't be sneaky about it. I don't see why they weren't up front with. I think the main reason it's even considered a big deal is because they weren't forthright about it.

But aside from that, why not do revenue sharing? It's fair. And you'll get some people who are both passionate and savvy and they will create boards that are popular and effective for marketing. If you give people an incentive to do a better job of pinning, it will only make money for pinterest.

jennwhinnem 482 pts

Neicolecginidietrich You're both right. Nobody likes being tricked. Everybody likes making money!

Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing 1793 pts

All good things have a hook? Bah humbug. Soils my excitement, Neicole. Of course there needed to be a catch to that site. I was certainly wondering how they were going to monetize that beast.

Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing Well, you can blame Shelly and Josh for soiling your excitement, Jayme. Personally, I don't have a problem with them making money, though. I'd just like some revenue sharing.

allenmireles 371 pts

Interesting point, @neicole . I have pinned this post to the Meta Pinterest- Insights & Resources Board, which is growing by leaps and bounds as the discussions about Pinterest increase in volume. Link to the board: http://pinterest.com/jonaston/meta-pinterest-insights-resources/

allenmireles@neicole Thanks, Allen! I'll check it out.