Pinterest Twitter friend notification email messages

A while ago, Pinterest removed the need to request an invitation to sign up:  you can now go to www.Pinterest.com and register immediately.

It now looks like there are three options for signing up:

• Using your Facebook account
• Using your Twitter account
• Using an email address.

(However I can't confirm that the email address works or not - it didn't the last time I tried.)


Now, if you sign up via Twitter, there'a a question at the end of the registration process about whether you want your Twitter followers to be notified that you've joined Pinterest.  I'm pretty sure that this wasn't there the last time I signed up for a Pinterest account using a Twitter account.   But I ticked it - expecting that people might get some type of notification inside Pinterest.

However what actually happens is that an email message is sent to the email account of any Twitter followers who are already on Pinterest, telling them that you have just joined and inviting them to "make you welcome" - presumably by following you on Pinterest too.

The message reads

"Hi <<recipient's Twitter account name>>
Your Twitter friend <<your Twitter account name>> just joined Pinterest.   Help welcome <<your Pinterest account name>> to the community."

I'm fairly sure that the message is only sent to Twitter followers who are already registered in Pinterest themselves - not all your Twitter followers.

But I was a little surprised by this.

Sending an email is a little more invasive than I'd expected (and maybe shows that Pinterest is looking to do things with the linking data it collected when forcing us to sign up via our existing Twitter or Facebook accounts)####

Really I don't expect my Twitter followers to be following me on Pinterest.   I'm looking for a different target audience on Pinterest, not more of the same people who are following me already.  

And I'm a little worried that Twitter followers might think I've spammed them by telling them that I've joined Pinterest.

Get ideas for your social media policy by reading other people's

Recently I posted a template for helping to work out and document how you use your blog vs Facebook, Twitter, email, etc.

This is mainly for bloggers who look after blogs-sites for companies, community groups, etc - basically any organisation.  It came about because I started using Blogger to do the website for a choir that I sing in, and I needed to think about all the issues shown.

If you are having difficulty figuring out how you should use these tools together in your own setting, it might be heplful to look at some of the example social media policies listed on the Social Media Governance website.   Some of these are from big companies and non-profits, but some are from far small outfits which might be like yours.

Remember, sometimes it doesn't matter what rules you follow - so long as everyone understands who does what, and acts consistently.   Most problems happen when people have different expectations about who should do what, when and how.

Why you can't ignore Google +

Just in case you're still hoping you can ignore G+ and it will go away.

It's kinda like that "If Facebook was a country" vid that did the rounds a while ago, but with less numbers and cuter cartoons.

Google+ now has Pages, letting us set up and link with things that aren't brands

Google+ have launched Pages - so far looking pretty similar to Facebook pages with circles attached.  Potentially a way to link your business, sports club or hobby blog to this social network, without totally entwining the blog into your own life.