In the summer of 2022, Pinterest discreetly introduced Shuffles, a new iOS app that lets users create collages using images and image cuts straight from its website. Gen Z consumers embraced the app, and subsequently, Pinterest included the features. Now the business claims that three times as many people are using its collage feature—which is driven by machine vision and AI technologies—as its regular Pins.
With the redesigned model, users can select material from Pinterest and the web, as well as photos they can take with their phone’s camera, to showcase their likes, hobbies, and style. Originally, users created collages analogous to mood boards or those centered on a specific interest, such as a favorite pop artist, and uploaded them to TikTok, where they were accompanied by music.
However, Pinterest users today are equally likely to put together style inspiration collages, such as outfit or home décor ideas, that resemble ones you would have seen in the glossy pages of women’s fashion magazines years ago. Other people use collages to assemble collections of their favorite skincare or cosmetic goods. You can directly purchase most of the pictures on Pinterest.
The business informed investors on its Q1 2024 earnings calls that collages are becoming more popular, even though they take more effort than just saving a pin to a Pinterest board.
CEO Bill Ready remarked, “Users are nearly three times more likely to save collage pins compared to other pins on Pinterest, and a large share feature clickable goods.“ Collages are also still becoming more popular with Gen Z, who make up about 70% of collages. Making Pins more actionable is another fundamental principle of raising [monthly active users], increasing engagement, and improving user happiness.
Interestingly, the AI and machine vision-powered architecture of the collages makes them functional. The collages can recognize an item from a picture and then “cut out” it, akin to real-world scissors cutting out a photo’s subject, instead of simply saving a photo, like a.jpg or.png, to a Pinterest board with a link or message. Similar to the image cutout tool in iOS, you can, for example, cut out your dog from a picture and then paste it into an iMessage conversation. However, the Pinterest use case for cutouts focuses primarily on encouraging users to put together collections of related products.
Pinterest added that in the coming future, human-led curation may also support AI.
“Flywheel effect: feeding us more and more granular signals that let us train our AI to do unique things that don’t occur on other platforms,” Ready said of the AI-powered function. He claims that the growing AI competition will make Pinterest more competitive.
With approximately 40% of its members now Gen Z and brand ad spending returning, Pinterest easily surpassed projections in its Q1 2024 profits. As the stock soared, CNBC reported that the business had achieved its greatest sales increase since 2021. Revenue for the quarter was $740 million, up 23% year over year, and adjusted EPS of 20 cents was higher than the 13 cents analysts had anticipated.
Pinterest claims it wants to better serve its Gen Z user base, which is currently, strangely, the group on the site that is growing the quickest.
“Pinterest is aging down,” said Ready, “a rarity in consumer internet apps, which usually age up as they mature.”
