Following on the heels of Facebook's recent changes to its promotions' guidelines, Pinterest has also revised its Acceptable Use Policy last week to include updated contest guidelines. Unlike Facebook's revised guidelines, which relaxed limitations on Facebook contests, Pinterest's updated Policy has added restrictions to contests run through its platform. Under the new policy, Pinterest will no longer allow contests that:
- Suggest that Pinterest sponsors or endorses the contest holder or the promotion;
- Require participants to Pin from a selection (like a website or list of Pins);
- Require participants to Pin the contest rules;
- Run a sweepstakes in which each Pin, board, like, or follow represents an entry;
- Encourage "spammy" behavior, such as asking participants to comment;
- Ask pinners to vote with pins, boards, or likes; or
- Require a minimum number of pins.
In the past, many "Pin It To Win It" contests commonly used these tactics. As such, contest holders will need to revise their future contests to comply with the updated Policy.
According to Pinterest, the change in policy was a result of Pinterest's realization that contests often motivated users to add Pins they were not actually interested in, which made these Pins "feel irrelevant and even spammy."
Pinterest's revised Acceptable Use Policy can be found here and Pinterest's blog post on the update can be found here.
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