Pinterest has removed the Like button from its platform and the hitherto liked pins are archived in a private board called Your Pinterest likes. Previously it was possible to repin a pin to one of your own boards or to simply like the pin.
I certainly see Pinterest’s view that ‘it hasn’t always been clear how they’re different’ and why it decided to remove the Like button. Pinterest must have done an extensive research to come to that conclusion.
Pinterst blog: Goodbye, Like button
I probably belong to the minority who made different uses of the Save and Like buttons in a clear, conscious, and consistent manner. In a nutshell, I pinned or saved my own images and liked others’ images. By pinning my own images, I have been hoping for exposure and traffic to this site. I liked images so that Pinterest could suggest more images that I would like to see, and I have been generally impressed by Pinterest’s ability to choose relevant pins. There is a lot to learn from seeing other people’s photographs.
In my view, there are three types of people on Pinterest: creators, curators, and consumers. By creators, I mean people who share their own materials on Pinterest, be that directly in the form of image files, or linking to their websites or blogs such as Tumblr or photo-sharing apps like Instagram. Curators in my definition are those who share and organize images created by other people. These curators might be sharing external materials to Pinterest or repinning images that have been posted by others. Consumers are those who enjoy seeing images on Pinterest. In many cases, a person is all three.
To use the taxonomy mentioned above – creators, curators, consumers – I have been a creator and consumer on Pinterest, since I have been saving my own images and liking others’ images, but not a curator. Now that the Like button is gone, I am not sure what I am going to do. I certainly will remain a creator, since I will keep on posting my own images, however, being a curator will involve more time commitment. Without input though, I am not sure if the Pinterest recommendations will remain excellent, and even if I like what I see, what am I going to do, if I do not intend to create boards for other people’s images? I suppose I could rename the Your Pinterest likes board and make it public.