Pinterest — The Bulletin Board Makes a Comeback!
The service I chose for my knowledge project is Pinterest. I have always thought of Pinterest as a sort of virtual bulletin board that provides a space to keep track of ideas and information in a highly visual format. This reminds me of the way we apply the concept of files and folders to frame an information management structure on computers, or how we write digital documents on white rectangles resembling a piece of paper. Even though these constructs are arbitrary and not essential in the digital realm, they do serve the purpose of orienting the user to information in a way that feels familiar, and therefore easy to integrate.
Similarly, Pinterest takes an information management tool from the real world, a bulletin board, and replicates it in a virtual environment. This enables a more intuitive user interface and experience because it is building upon the familiar. However, when researching the history of Pinterest, I came to learn that the genesis of the company was rooted in a slightly different concept.
Founder Ben Silbermann had a cherished childhood habit of collecting things, and thus, he envisioned a virtual platform that would allow users to collect their favorite pictures and images in order to share them with friends. Does this sound like other ubiquitous social media platforms? The description of early-stage Pinterest sounds like little more than an organized Instagram. Over time, however, the platform evolved to embrace the energy and direction of its users, which was heavily focused on the concept of project planning.
In the summer of 2021, in a keynote speech at the Alt Summit in Salt Lake City, Utah, Silbermann described Pinterest’s mission as such:
This messaging suggests a broadening of concept beyond the initial focus on collection to the purpose of inspiration, and from a focus on what the user shares to a focus on what the user is exposed to through engagement with the platform.
Pinterest is not just the place to collect, it has increasingly become a place to search and find, and this characteristic is a key differentiator from other social media platforms. While platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter do allow users to search for content and also create the experience of exploration, Pinterest provides a more self-directed experience.
Pinterest allows for a highly targeted search for information and a limited scope in terms of the type of content that can be returned (visual imagery only in the form of “pins”). Once information is found, Pinterest also allows for more customized organization and storage of that information. Unlike any other platforms I can think of, Pinterest is more focused on the content than on the contributor. While users may share information with their own social network on Pinterest, this is not necessarily the primary function of the service.
It is worth noting that content on Pinterest is not just generated from within the site. Users can also add content by creating Pins using external links, which then apply images to tiles (pins) through meta-data. Pins can also be created simply by uploading a saved image of your choosing. When a pin is created, the user is prompted to input additional metadata such as “title” and “description,” which reinforce the ability for Pinterest to filter for content through their search functionality.
The evolution of Pinterest is a wonderful example of a company that embraced a nimble, user-centered design process. As the service evolved beyond “sharing” to incorporate “finding” it appears to have employed more sophisticated AI technology. This technology predicts what users might want to find, and this added value creates a virtuous feedback loop in which every action of the user reinforces the efficacy of the service. As I search for and collect information, I also share information, thus generating evermore information for the next user.
While the information strategy behind Pinterest is pretty sophisticated, the information architecture itself is fairly simple, and this simplicity is critical to the success of the service. So, let’s take a look under the hood!
Taxonomy, Categorizations, and Hierarchical Structures
Okay, so I said the information architecture of Pinterest is fairly simple, and nothing illustrates that more than the taxonomy. Pinterest has a myriad of functions including collecting, searching, finding, sharing and even shopping. The fundamental tool underlying all of the functions on Pinterest is the Pin Board, which has a very clear and finite taxonomy:
Board (Category) — Section (Sub-category) — Pin (Content) — Description (Metadata)
Here is where things get fun though, from the 10,000 foot view this taxonomy remains constant and singular, but because the service allows for such a significant level of customization each user can effectively create their own meta-taxonomy based on their own interests. Here is a screen shot of my pin boards:
And here is a screenshot of one of my boards (note the sub-categories).
My take on this structure is that while it requires the user to maintain a high level of fidelity to the taxonomy (Board — Section — Pin — Metadata), it gives the individual user a great deal of control over the information hierarchy within their own boards. In the example I shared I was creating a Pinterest board for a home remodel project. The hierarchy looked like:
Project — Project Item — Content — Notes
But I could have organized this information in other ways (for example by preference or cost). I can’t think of another social media platform that allows for this level of ownership over the way information is categorized and organized, so perhaps this quality is the key differentiator for Pinterest — control over organization of information.
Navigation & Filters
Pinterest is an example of a service that provides a clear site navigation by staying true to the simplicity of their concept. There are a very limted number of actions possible within the Pinterest application. These include: Search, save, create a board, create a pin, share (a pin or board), and follow. All of these actions are accessible through a very flat site map structure:
As an aside, it was somewhat tricky to create this site map because so much real estate is subsumed by the content tiles, and other functionality beyond search and save appears to be very minimized in both size and placement. As you can observe in the image below, the tiles take up roughly 90% of the page and other functionality is predominantly buried behind the account icon. While this can create inefficiencies at times, perhaps this structure makes sense given the primary purpose of the service is to engage users with site content.
Each of the possible tasks on Pinterest can be accomplished with very succinct user flows, meaning it does not take many actions to accomplish a task. Furthermore, the user is never required to navigate very far from the site landing page. Here are a few examples of user flows on the Pinterest site:
Interestingly, there is only one filter option available for the entire site, that being the use of the search bar itself. Once results are generated from the initial search the user can scrolls through all of the results, which appear as picto-tiles. However, the user cannot narrow the search further. While the user is limited to the search bar for filtering, Pinterest provides some additional content filtering by way of artificial intelligence. When a user “pins” an image Pinterest automatically suggests other pins they might like. When a user logs into their account the landing page itself is populated with recommended pins based on previous searches and pins. Take a look at my landing page, for example.
Opportunities for the Future
While there is much positive that can be said about Pinterest as a concept and the unique niche it fills as a service, there is also a great deal of opportunity to improve upon the functionality. In particular, the site navigation and filtering functions leave much to be desired.
Once a user enters a search, seemingly infinite results are returned and the user does not have a way to narrow these results in line with their specific interests. For example, Pinterest could allow a content “type” filter (article, product, blog post) or a date filter to allow for more recent content. Also, I don’t really understand why Pinterest isn’t capitalizing off of the influencer movement more by highlighting certain content contributors or giving users different statuses. This would also serve as a useful filter function, or at least a more compelling way to curate content.
In summary, Pinterest shines in its ability to be customized, in its simple and intuitive navigation, and in its singular focus on the taxonomy of Board — Section — Pin — Detail. The medium for sharing information — picto-tiles — is an excellent choice that succeeds in recreating the feeling of a physical “collection” in a virtual space. Despite these strengths, Pinterest falls short in the depth and specificity of information users are able to access with the limited search and filter functionality available.