Does Pinterest Notify When you Leave a Board?

If you’re looking for ideas or inspiration on any subject, Pinterest is one place you can get it. Part merry-go-round of linked boards and annoying awkward to navigate pages and part awesome collection of ideas, I have a love/hate relationship with this social network but still use it. Today I’m talking about running a group board and notifications.

Group boards are exactly what their name implies. A social group that collaborate on a single board that reflects the groups aims or interests. There are group boards for everything on Pinterest, most are managed by individuals but some by companies or marketing firms. You can start a group board, invite friends to join and everyone can pin as much as they like. It’s a neat idea that is proving very popular!

If you’re considering setting up a group board on Pinterest, here are some top tips for doing so.

Creating a group board Pinterest

Creating a group board on Pinterest is very straightforward.

Log into Pinterest and select your username from the top left.
Select the ‘+’ icon at the top of the next page and select Create Board.
Name your board and make sure Secret is turned off.
Select Create to create the board.
On your new board page, select the pencil icon at the top.
Add a description of the board and a category.
Add an email address into the Collaborators window and select Invite.
Repeat for everyone you want to invite to join.
Select Save when finished.

An email invitation will be sent to every user you invite and they can respond and join through a link in the email.

If you want to encourage people to join or collaborate with you, it makes sense to add ways to contact you in the board description. Add a line or two telling people what the board is about, what kind of contributions you welcome and add an email address where people can request membership. You can add Twitter too so people can tweet a request or whatever works for you.

Remove someone from your group board

With the best will in the world, social networking doesn’t always go smoothly so there are mechanics for removing people from your group board should you wish to. At Step 7, you created a list of contributors to your board. It is from here that you remove them.

Open your board and select the gray pencil icon.
Select the person you want to remove from the board.
Select Remove next to their name.
Confirm your choice.

The person will be removed from your group board with immediate effect. They will not be notified, the board will simply disappear from their list.

Leave a group board

If you’re a member of a group board and want to leave, you do it in much the same way as you kick someone from a board.

Open the board you want to leave.
Select Leave next to your own username.
Confirm your choice.

Once you confirm, you’re out of the board completely.

Does Pinterest notify when you leave a board?

Pinterest isn’t really big on notifications. Not like the other networks. As far as I can tell and as far as my own experiments go, there is no notification sent when you leave a board.

Running a successful group board in Pinterest

While it may sound harsh, managing groups on social media is like bringing up children or animals. You outline clear boundaries and expectations, be clear about what is expected, what benefits are there for compliance and what penalties are possible for non-compliance. Rules, boundaries, limitations. It works for Cesar Milan and it works on Pinterest too.

Set a clear but concise policy including rules on posting type, quality and frequency.
Spend time administering the board and be available to members if necessary.
Prune spam, duplicates or unsuitable pins and check links and all content regularly.
Keep the board active by engaging with it, adding new pins and engaging as much as possible.
Remove members that don’t contribute or who break the rules. Be firm but fair.

Pinterest rewards your investment of time and effort with a mainly positive and more mature audience than other social networks. It can be a rewarding experience but don’t underestimate the time involved in maintaining a healthy busy board. It will eat up your life but should make it richer for it.

Have you run a group board on Pinterest? Have any advice for people starting out? Tell us about it below if you do!