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Olive and Goat Cheese Tartlets & The Blogger vs Pinterest Controversy

I’m officially on Pinterest. It’s such a brilliant and simple idea. A big digital pin board that you can share with friends. 

If you aren’t a blogger, you probably have no idea how many arguments and debates go on in blog land about this social networking site. The petitions, the disagreements, the loathing. If you are a non-blogger, you are probably a bit confused. What could anyone possibly have against pinterest?! It really comes down to respecting the originator of the idea you pin as well as the sanity of your pin followers. Here is a little list so that we can all pin in peace and harmony. 

1. Pin to the original post. This is the biggest irritation of pin followers. You see a pin and think, "I LOVE those shoes. I will buy them right now." you click and then pin goes to the google homepage or someones email account or even the pinterst homepage. You’re a disappointed buyer and the seller of those shoes just lost a sale to a Ghost Pin. Check the URL of re-pins so that you don’t perpetuate this. I’ve had my own photos lead to everything from the Foodgawker homepage to the Facebook homepage to, for some inexplicable reason: Target.com. Even if you found the recipe on Foodgawker, or you found those shoes on a fashion tumblr, click through to the original website or blog and pin directly to that, for the sake of your pin followers.

2. Don’t cut and paste the recipe into the pin description. It doesn’t bother me so much, but it is the biggest frustration and the source of most animosity between pinterest and bloggers. Bloggers feel like they will lose traffic if people can get the recipe from pinterest, and traffic is all we have people! It validates what we do. It comes down to respecting the content of the person who has created it. 

3. Follow your favorite bloggers. Pinterest generates an amazing amount of traffic for us and we are SO thrilled with that. If you have a favorite blogger, follow them on pinterst and re-pin their posts. It’s the easiest way to know that you are pinning or re-pinning correctly. If you have any questions, just ask. 

4.Bloggers need to relax a bit. If pinners break these rules, it isn’t out of malice. People either didn’t realize their mistake or are just trying to make things easy for their friends. Just sigh and let it go, there is no need to get upset about possibly loosing a little traffic when most people will probably click through to your recipe (or seek it out) if they want to make it. My general philosophy is that it is better to lose traffic than lose readers. 

5. Pin comments. We have covered that fact that bloggers don’t so much like it when they see their entire recipes posted in pin comments, which has been largely eliminated due to the enforcement of a character limit. And most pinners don’t like the long comments because it ruins the aesthetic of the overall board. But I personally love to see a quick review of the recipe written in the pin. For instance: "Made this for Thanksgiving! Loved it!" or "I didn’t make the frosting but the cake was great all on it’s own!" or even constructive comments: "I liked this but it needed more salt. I also added parmesan and it was a hit!" But don’t bash us. There is a pretty good possibility that we will see it and it hurts our feelings. We are real life humans with hearts and brains and feelings. Be nice, or at least helpful and tactful. 

And please, if you have more to add to this conversation, do so in the comments section! And please, pin away!

Here is my pinterest, a little bare at the moment but I’m working on it!

Olive and Goat Cheese Tartlets

Ingredients:

1 sheet puff pastry

1 6 oz can of Large Black Olives

4 oz goat cheese

8 oz cream cheese, softened

½ cup chopped tomato

1 tbs chopped fresh tarragon or basil

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.

On a lightly floured surface, roll the puff pastry with the rolling pin three to four times in each direction, making the pastry thinner, longer and wider. Using a 3.5 inch biscuit cutter cut out 12-16 circles.

Place the pastry circles on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper.

In a food processer, add the olives, goat cheese and cream cheese. Pulse until well combined.

Top the pastry rounds with 1-2 tbs of the olive mixture.

Bake until the edges of the puff pastry turn a light golden brown, about 15-18 minutes. Transfer to a serving dish and top with tomato and fresh herb.

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Comments


cassie March 14, 2012 um 11:25 am

Followed you! These tartlets look amazing, Jackie! Right up my alley!

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Qui Dabra March 14, 2012 um 11:58 am

nice post ilike it. I didn’t know about this pinterest stuff. it helps to know it.

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claire @ the realistic nutritionist March 14, 2012 um 2:53 pm

I couldn’t agree more with your Pinterest points!! And those tartlets are adorable!

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Anita at Hungry Couple March 14, 2012 um 3:08 pm

Amen to all your Pinterest points, Jackie, and now following you.

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Julia March 14, 2012 um 3:37 pm

It’s so funny that you wrote about this. I just read about the exact same problem which news organizations are currently facing. Main stream organizations do all the investigating and reporting to find a story and then other online news sources aggregate these stories into new forms and re-post them. It’s a problem because news organizations need to make money, aided by website traffic and ownership of their stories, to be able to produce content in the first place.

http://tinyurl.com/7g2j5xy

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Mary Ellen @ Pâte à Chew, www.pateachew.com March 14, 2012 um 6:49 pm

Look great, olives and goat cheese go so well together 🙂

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Nina Munchen March 14, 2012 um 11:15 pm

Pinterest is a great way to socialized with everyone. 🙂
I love Pinterest’s unique interface. 🙂

pinterest is always a great help for marketing people
and i think this will be a breakthrough method of promoting our product

you should try http://pinfaves.com/ too
it’s a site where you can submit your favorite pins. and you can vote up the greatest pins or vote down the worst pins.

maybe if you try http://pinfaves.com/, you can do a review about it too

best regards, Nina

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Jackie March 15, 2012 um 10:12 am

Thanks Nina! I’ll look into that 🙂

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chinmayie @ love food eat March 15, 2012 um 12:09 am

Great pinterest tips! I don’t understand the mad love for interest. It’s interesting but that’s about it…

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chinmayie @ love food eat March 15, 2012 um 12:28 am

Great interest tips jackie…

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Tina@flourtrader March 15, 2012 um 1:47 am

As far as I am concerned there are just too many medias out there. Yes it would be great if we all could join every one and dedicate hours of our time using them, but there is only so much we can do in a given day. So then it comes down to choice of which or joining them all without any activity. The Google+ thing is one I have joined with little participation. Also-the sad thing is that you put effort into one and then progress deems it is defunct so you have to struggle again with something new.
Your tarts do look tasty, I love the blend of olives and goat cheese. Another tasty appetizer-yum!

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Jackie March 15, 2012 um 10:12 am

It can be so exhausting to keep up with!

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Tya @ Note Etc. March 15, 2012 um 2:05 am

those tartlets are incredible tempting! Followed you now in pinterest!

cheers

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Liz March 15, 2012 um 6:32 am

Oh, gosh, these tartets look fabulous…full of yummy ingredients and outstanding flavor! So glad to now be following you on Pinterest…great post on the how tos (to’s??…neither look right!) of the site!

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Shannon March 15, 2012 um 8:26 am

Thanks for this informative article! I love Pinterest and am somewhat addicted. It’s good to know some sound guidelines to use. I’ve also run into the frustration of trying to locate the original source of a pin without luck.

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Katia March 15, 2012 um 9:10 am

I’ve recently heard about that and I’m definitely getting curious!
I love your tartlets, they look so tasty and good!

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Colleen Bierstine March 15, 2012 um 9:10 am

Welcome to the wonderful world of Pinterest! These tarts look so pretty, elegant, and delicious. I’d probably down a whole tray-full.

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Bree March 15, 2012 um 9:49 am

Those tarts are adorable. I have not jumped on the pinterest bandwagon yet. I am afraid of getting addicted 😉

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Valerie @ From Valerie’s Kitchen March 15, 2012 um 10:24 am

These tarts look fab Jackie! I agree completely on all the Pinterest points. It has been one of my top traffic sources, it’s a wonderful tool, and just so fun to use. It does have a strange, addictive quality to it so I really have to watch myself or I’d be on there all night! Looking forward to seeing you there 🙂

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fatpiginthemarket March 15, 2012 um 12:30 pm

Well said. I’m just getting started on Pinterest too (btw thanks for following my pins!). I dig Pinterest. I’ve been "liking" food by fellow bloggers and now I’m going to start a board for it. Your food will be on there often, I’m sure. Great looking tartlets!

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Deanna March 15, 2012 um 1:20 pm

I love Pinterest, but I know there’s a lot of controversy. I don’t put full recipes in the captions, but it irritates me when someone repins something I’ve posted and puts the recipe in.

I love olives so much I am swooning at my computer.

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Brooke (Crackers on the Couch) March 15, 2012 um 5:35 pm

I just started Pinterest myself a few months ago. It is pretty crazy to see my own photographs up there, especially to see the re-pinning re-pinning re-pinning business, but I like Pinterest much better than Tumblr. Mostly, I think, because it seems less like the pinner is trying to take credit for the original post. Also, I think I could shove your tartlets into my face by the handful! Pinning it! Lol! =)

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Julie at Burnt Carrots March 16, 2012 um 8:03 am

Great review on Pinterest! I agree some people just need to chill out and take the traffic that comes from it. I did hear that the person who pins a picture is responsible for pinning that picture and that you are responsible for paying for Pinterest’s lawyers if they get sued over the picture.

I think food and fashion won’t be effected or involved with this but for some pictures it could create more controversy! Anyways the goat cheese tartlets look tasty!!

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Lynn @ I’ll Have What She’s Having March 18, 2012 um 2:35 pm

I share your frustration about the phantom link, today someone I followed pinned about 10 gorgeous food shots that all led to google translate of all places. I would love to know who took those shots.

Your tartlets look amazing, simple but with great flavours. Awesome idea.

PS, following you on Pinterest now 🙂

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Katie Tanimale March 18, 2012 um 7:22 pm

Spot on with this write-up, I truly think that pinners needs much more consideration. I’ll probably be checking better.

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Andree Caminero March 19, 2012 um 2:17 am

I actually converse in through go through; they are all a handful of negatively informed pinners

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lózka drewna March 19, 2012 um 8:06 am

I agree with you all above. We can communicate on this pinterest idea, we all win

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Megan {Country Cleaver} March 19, 2012 um 8:50 am

I completely agree with everything you said about Pinterest, as a blogger who pins a ridiculous amount of time away, and as someone who’s had pins "ghosted" and recipes placed in the comments sections of pins. It’s a love/hate, pro/con system but each one has their ups and downs. I love it and won’t be giving it up anytime soon. As a side note – yup, I’m following you now too.
And goat cheese tarts? My heart has been stolen. YUM! ~Megan

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sj March 19, 2012 um 8:27 pm

I recently discovered and started following your blog (through pinterest, interestingly) and am now thrilled to hear that your perspective on the site so closely echoes mine! (especially becasue it lets me know that I can pin your recipes without feeling guilt guilt guilt).

I love your suggested guidelines, and would also add that if people see misuse, it doesn’t hurt to politely suggest how the pinner could be a more ethical user (I recently let a *VERY* popular pinner know that I was going to stop following her boards because she was not pinning from original content, but would immediately re-follow her if she changed her practices). It sucks to be the "bad guy," but a self-regulating user pool will help to keep the site kosher.

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Jackie March 20, 2012 um 8:45 am

Good for you! If she is on pinterest that much, she really should know better. When people are new, I always just assume that they didn’t realize their mistakes. But if she is pinning incorrectly and she has that many followers, then she is just creating a huge mess of ghost pins that will keep getting re-pined. Hopefully she changes her ways!

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Kraig Burka March 20, 2012 um 11:16 pm

Tons of followers pretty much always builds credibility. I feel like in modern day society that many celebrities are judged by how many follower they have. It’s kind of weird, but true. Whether it be pinterest, twitter, or anything really.

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Genna Canute March 22, 2012 um 2:38 pm

To the issue and authored effectively, appreciate the info

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Danielle Longan April 2, 2012 um 7:18 pm

Looks great. I will try that

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laura m May 13, 2012 um 6:18 am

I too get very frustrated when a delicious looking recipe, that has been repinned a 100 times leads you to a "lose weight now" link! The amount of spam on Pinterest is getting so irritating. Glad i found your blog, i am following you now. Keep up the good work!

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Jackie May 13, 2012 um 9:10 am

That just happened to me yesterday! I don’t think most people click through to see where the link goes, they just repin. There is a pinner who has about a billion followers who does that all the time. I just unfollowed her because it was so frustrating.

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Stephanie August 30, 2013 um 6:48 am

thanks for bringing this to my attention.I never thought about the affect it works have on the original blogger/ poster of the pin. it’s most so easy to pitch that little pin it.

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ChrisSinc November 14, 2013 um 9:42 am

In reply to your post on Pinterest. I’m a Pinterest Junkie and I must say the suggestions made are great. I will pin-it on my board regarding Pinterest etiquette, LOL. I admit I broke some of the rules when I first started Pinterest, (Those pins I edit when I come across them). Now I try, when possible, to make sure the pin takes me too the original website. Some blogs/websites & Facebook pages do post credits to the original recipe, which is better than nothing, but it is always best to click on the credit and pin from there.
You can pin from Facebook onto to Pinterest & credit the original by copying the image URL and then search, Pinterest will search for the Picture. You can also Google the picture URL to find the original. I know it’s a lot of work, but I respect those that post recipes to put in the extra effort, besides I want ‘the original’. Wow! That was well winded… You have a great blog. Thank you for sharing.

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