Flickr Stands up for Image Rights as Guardian Jobs Reflects Further on the Growing Power of Pinterest

LONDON, March 6, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Pinterest: The interest grows and the spotlight remains focused on the social site, with Flickr now involved in the dialogue surrounding copyright.

Although it has been in existence for the last two years, Pinterest has seen a dramatic increase in users in past weeks. Many relishing the ease of 'pinning' a photo to the virtual pinboards that begin to take distinctive shape - personal storyboards reflecting lifestyles and tastes. Pinterest offers limitless boards, allowing members to collect a large portfolio of images, from holiday destinations and art; to furniture and fashion. Rather than being lazily labelled and stereotyped a distraction for bored housewives in America; in Britain, it has split active interest down the middle in an equal 50/50 between men and women and the majority are aged 25-34 years old Pinterest is not for teens.

Guardian Jobs has been involved in topical discussions around copyrighting infringements and the appropriate concern amongst freelance designers and photographers. The sector challenge over where images end up when showcasing portfolios and work in search of jobs is ever present.  Such discussions have put the popular social networking site in a hot spot of heated debate.

There has been a quickly realised recognition that this is a progressive and powerful tool, allowing images to be picked up again and again and sending them on a viral journey across this social network with great speed and efficiency. The web, in addition to being a highly useful venue to advertise and sell work, is also a ripe poaching ground, and despite the merits of sharing across a social network being undeniable, it is a risk for those whose livelihood is their work.

So do members need to start taking this seriously?  The attention Pinterest has drawn has led to photographers expressing concern about the ease in which copyrighted images can be pinned and then re-pinned by other users without any acknowledgement of the creator/photographer.

A recent code set up by Pinterest, enables some level of copyright protection for images, which attempts to act as a preventative infringement measure for those whose work is online.  In lieu of this, the, online photo management and sharing application, Flickr will no longer allow pinning. Only content that is established as safe or public will have a sharing button enabled.

As social networking sites become more and more developed, necessary and useful, Guardian Jobs encourages more in-depth privacy settings and codes like those set in place by Pinterest and Flickr to be developed alongside the growing trend of social networking powerhouses.  A valuable and often lucrative way of connecting ideas, work and jobs, navigating and negotiating a way around social networks safely seems the most beneficial call of action, rather than removing oneself and their work from them entirely. Traditional methods of water-marking, or showing 'copyright of' across images, or creative are also a tried and tested measures to ensure that viewers admire the artist and the art.

You can browse the latest jobs in the Arts and Creative sectors on Guardian Jobs. Additionally; head to http://www.facebook.com/guardianjobs for leading stories and news from the Guardian about jobs and careers.