Pinterest and Twitter

If you are a Twitter user (as I am: OnlineCrsLady and OnlineMythIndia), you might find the Pinterest-Twitter integration to be very useful. If you link your Twitter account to your Pinterest account, that means you can choose to share each pin at Twitter when you post. The tweet will contain the first 100 characters of your Pinterest pin description, plus a link to the pin page. Since Pinterest has expanded Twitter service, that means your actual tweet page will contain even more information, as you can see in the screenshot below:

Usually I will do my own Twitter post manually so I can make sure the text includes exactly the information I want, but if I am in a hurry (as often happens!), it really is convenient to be able to tweet a pin automatically.

For this Tech Tip, you will connect your Twitter and Pinterest accounts, and then post a pin at Twitter automatically. To do this tip, you need to have a Twitter account already; if you have not used Twitter before, you should do this Tech Tip first: Getting Started with Twitter.

STEP ONE: Link Twitter to Pinterest. To link your accounts, go to your Pinterest page (for example, here is my page), click on the gear icon in the upper right-hand corner, and then choose Account Settings. As you scroll down that page, you will see the Twitter option under Social Networks; just move the slider from "no" to "yes," and then you will see the confirmation window. While you are here on the Account Settings page, you might always want to take a look at your other Pinterest account settings and make any changes you want! (For example, I turned off the promoted pins from advertisers: ugh!) When you are done, save your new settings.

STEP TWO: Tweet a Pin. You are ready to use your new Twitter connection! To make sure it is working, add a new pin to Pinterest, and you should see a little Twitter checkbox in the lower left-hand corner of the pin window that will let you automatically send the pin to Twitter.

By default, that box is checked or unchecked based on your last pin. So, make sure you uncheck the box if you don't want to tweet your pin! When you have edited the description and made your Twitter choice, click the "Pinit" button which will add the pin to your Pinterest Board and also send the pin to Twitter.

To finish this Tip, add a few new pins and tweet them! And here's something cool: if you include a Twitter hashtag right at the beginning of your Pinterest pin description, the hashtag will show up in the tweet. So, use the hashtag for class if what you are pinning is class-related: #OU3043 for Myth-Folklore and #OU4993 for Indian Epics:

Turning Off Twitter. If you decide later on that you want to turn off this Twitter integration, no problem: just go to the PInterest settings for your account and choose "no" as your Twitter option.

Finishing Up. After you have pinned and tweeted a few new items, you're all done — but don't forget to do the Gradebook Declaration for extra credit.