Pinterest is known for providing ideas for designs and purchases, and the company's newest offering should encourage users to use their creativity. Shuffles is a new iOS software that the company discreetly released that allows users to create collages out of photographs, picture cutouts, and other animation effects. The software can currently only be downloaded via invitation and offers the option to join a waitlist from the home screen.
According to Shuffles' App Store description, users can take pictures of objects they want to include or create collages using Pinterest's photo library images. They can use a tap to individually extract things from within a photo, a feature reminiscent of iOS 16's clever picture cutout functionality. The collage can then be made by rotating, layering, and resizing the images in Shuffles, possibly including animations and outcomes. The completed project can be distributed to friends for collaboration or posted to open groups so that others can "remix" it in their own ways.
According to the app's description, it may be used to visualize home decor, fashion ideas, mood boards, and more.
Despite the company's failure to openly announce its ambitions for Shuffles, a Pinterest spokeswoman acknowledged that TwoTwenty, its new internal incubator, is where the app was developed.
TwoTwenty, established in November of last year and named after Pinterest's original office, aims to encourage more internal experimentation on the social network and quicken its rate of invention. With their incubators, NPE, Microsoft Garage, and Area 120, respectively, other tech behemoths like Meta, Microsoft, and Google are making comparable efforts.
In the case of Pinterest, the company has been attempting to shift from its past as a picture-based pinboard and bookmarking platform that supports e-commerce transactions to today's creator-driven era where users are encouraged to make purchases through video content. Pinterest introduced its TikTok-like Idea Pins and Pinterest TV, a live shopping feature, to meet consumer demand for video.
Shuffles, an early-stage business, is merely a sort of idea.
It's funny how similar Pinterest's new app is to a mobile collage maker Meta operated a few years ago through its internal incubator, NPE Team. The zine creator, known as E.gg, gained a small fan base of people who enjoyed making mixed-media collages that combined images, text, and GIFs. But E.gg was shut down, much like almost all of Meta's NPE endeavors. Shuffles on Pinterest may be attempting to capitalize on the same consumer demand for creativity and inspiration driven by images that Meta abandoned.
Additionally, as other tech giants attempt to imitate TikTok, there is an undertone of opposition to the idea that video must be the only form of social expression and innovation on social media. Even the Kardashians implored Instagram to stop trying to mimic TikTok this past month, sparking a customer reaction against Instagram's deprioritization of friends' content and photographs. In response, Instagram reversed some recent changes but focuses on a future where videos come first.
In some ways, Pinterest seems to grasp that its video turn won't be able to hold users' attention in the face of the TikTok risk indefinitely. It might open up new possibilities for exploration by discovering another area for advancement through experimentation.
The company's most recent quarter's financial results showed stability from a numbers perspective, but it undoubtedly fell short of consumer advancement. The number of monthly active users had decreased by 9% from the previous year to 433 million.
