Pinterest Updates Include: More Fasion and Better Ways to Search

I gave up Pinterest about a year ago. Why? I was finding it a bit time consuming and I never really used the information I was searching for.  For example, I would be really excited to work on my diet. I would then look for recipes. But I would never make the recipes. I personally just found it to be a waste of time. A fun waste of time, mind you, but a waste of time nonetheless.  All that being said, Pinterest has made some improvements, and I wonder if will persuade me to get back into using it?

So what are they doing? Well first they’ve got a new design. That can go a long way when it comes to the functionality of an app. It’s also nice to open one of your favourite apps and find a fresh look. Don’t you think? In addition, they have improved the camera tools and added some new categories including fashion. Which I actually think is great because I could never find what I was looking for, in terms of clothing, in the previous versions.

Continuing on with this idea. They are taking the original concept of Pinterest and turning it up a notch. Instead of just searching for ideas on what you could wear, you can get recommendations from Pinterest on how to wear an outfit. And you can get further recommendations from Pinterest on the types of clothes you should buy. Ok, I think that’s enough about fashion for now.

Moving on to some update Lens features. Pinterest is now giving you the ability to zoom in and out on objects, and tap to focus. Another cool feature is the ability to discover items related to your search, which can be found at the bottom. I’m picturing this in my head to be like the awful Google advertisements by tracking your searches, but maybe it’s not. I understand the concept. You want to get as much information related to your search as possible. I just hope it’s not as creepy.

And lastly, you can use your own images to search within Pinterest. I believe this was part of the initial Lens launch, but it had a lot of limitations. Those have been eliminated and it’s easier to access your images in order to be able to search for what you would like.

If you are an existing Pinterest user, do these updates make a difference? If you aren’t, how likely are you to start? I like the idea of Pinterest in general, but I don’t have a lot of time at the moment to use it properly. I’d like to be able to make some boards and get some ideas but I still think there’s a missing piece to the puzzle. Perhaps some of these updates would fill in those blank spaces for me. Either way, updates are usually a good thing and in this case I suspect it’s no different.  My final thought on Pinterest, in general, is that I would personally like to see the ability to customize the interface.  Meaning – give me the ability to figure out how I want to search for things.  I think that the essence of Pinterest is to let you explore different topics in a unique way.  But we all learn and think differently, so it would be nice to be able to organize those boards in different ways.