Well, my stop being angry campaign didn’t even last a
day! At least this is no one I
personally know! I have a bone to pick with
the creators of Pinterest. Or whoever is
responsible over there. I will probably
write them a letter. But until then…I
will complain about them here on my Blog.
The other day I got an email from a food site, Recipe.com…I follow
A LOT of food sites because although I don’t cook daily like a mad woman, I
have good intentions of doing so…and I want ideas. Fine.
Recipe.com was inviting me to FOLLOW THEM on Pinterest. Seems innocent enough. NO, NO IT IS NOT AND I WILL TELL YOU WHY.
I first heard of Pinterest through my friend Shelly, but I
never checked it out, just noticed she mentioned it. Then through one of sister’s ramblings I
heard her mention it as well. Again, not
real excited, because we do not like the same things and I was sure I would not
enjoy it. I checked it out and literally
hated it. Despised it. What was this nonsense? What the hell do you do? How do you do it? Why do I care what people put on an imaginary
bulletin board? These are people who
have homes, children, marriages, or planning a wedding, etc. This did NOT apply to me. And honestly, who the hell cares what I put
on my board!? I probably didn’t spend 5 minutes there. AND THEN, when I found out you to have
request an invite, I was wicked livid pissed.
What are you going to do? A
background check on me? Anyway…the real
reason I went ahead and requested an invite was because Sister follows all of
these really cool bloggers and that is how she found them, through stuff pinned
on Pinterest. Ok…I will suck it up, and
probably never follow through with it.
Once I received my invitation,(must have passed whatever
test) she showed me how to do it, because there are NO INSTRUCTIONS, I was like…hmmm…this
is pretty sweet actually…and then like so many other Americans, I instantly
became addicted and took back every horrible word I said about it. I was in love. I don’t fall in love with very many
things. I FALL a lot…but not IN LOVE
with something very easily. I felt like
I could honestly justify the amount of time spent on it because I was looking
to better myself or improve my cooking skills or at the VERY least, DREAM about
a house I will probably NEVER HAVE…it worked because I stopped hating that I
was living in a basement instead. It
actually gave me hope. Created GOOD INTENTIONS
for a future I could certainly not predict, but I am a dreamer…this is a dreamer’s
blank canvas if you can ask me. I can
paint a future to look like anything I want it to! I can show you my house, my wedding, the food
I am going to cook and eat, the baby I am going to have…and never really have
to be responsible for any of it, like paying the mortgage on that amazing home, spending money on that wedding on some tropical island, or raising a child in this ridiculous world! This is like a drug…
Okay, get to the point Tiff.
The real reason I LOVED IT so much was the same reason I fell in love
with the Scenic Drive when I was a little girl.
Sure you have to weed stuff out, but at least for a while, this site was
about people doing creative things, with anything you could imagine. It was for the most part not commercialized,
sensationalized, whatever ized you want to call it…just real, genuine people,
with really neat ideas. Interspersed
with pictures of movie stars they want to wake up next to. Either way, crafty, artisan, boho,
stuff. I mean even sharing recipes.
I am pissed because NOW businesses are getting Pinterest
Boards. Big Businesses. Ummm…ok, why? Yes, it is great advertising, but isn’t that
what we are doing for the businesses?
Pinning our favorite recipes, our favorite lotions from Bath and Body,
our favorite bras (well not me) from Victoria and her secret? You get the idea. If they are “Pinning” their stuff, does it
not just become their own website again?
I can’t stand it becoming a commercialized version of what was an
incredible idea to begin with. It’s the
fastest growing website in the history of the web. I do not mind the aesthetic changes we have
to keep making to use Facebook (it’s free, really, shut-up about it, sorry just
how I feel) as much as I hated it when businesses could then have their own pages
and if you LIKED them you would get special coupons or some nonsense. So now, all of my technological devices are
just one big advertisement. This is
BULLSHIT. Is nothing sacred anymore like
sharing ideas? Staying in touch with
family and friends? Oh, I was mad at Facebook too, but really, college kids
should have been really mad, since it was created specifically for them in the
first place and then we all got involved…
Do you understand my point?
YES, I know that I personally took advantage of Facebook advertising
when I owned my bar. Duh, I am a lot of
things, but stupid is not one of them, well not as a rule…social media is the
biggest thing since sliced bread. I was
also a “mom and pop” organization who could not afford national commercials,
hell I couldn’t even afford to advertise in the Register Mail…I mean it was
totally awesome for me because it appealed to my biggest demographic…I am not
arguing that these forms of advertisement are amazing…but really, do these big companies
need to be on all of these venues?
It is the major reason I love Galena, Illinois and
Stillwater, Minnesota so much…there are parts of the towns that remain untouched
by commercialism…just local businesses full of artisans trying to make a living
by selling some really creative stuff.
And that is what Pinterest felt like.
Something that the “big boys” wouldn’t get ahold of. And I was terribly wrong.
Stepping off my box now.
The box I learned how to build and color on Pinterest, that I told you all about on Facebook...which is now being
brought to you by Victoria and her Secret.
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