Pinterest rolls out three new visual discovery tools

Now users can use anything they see, whether on Pinterest or in the physical world, to discover products.

Pinterest has rolled out three new visual discovery tools to help give people more ways to find ideas. Now users can use anything they see, whether on Pinterest or in the physical world, to discover products. “Using new visual discovery technology, now we have even more ways for people to discover products and ideas they want to try,” said Pinterest’s Tim Kendall in a blogpost.
Pinterest now has a Shop the Look tool that lets users track down and buy products they come across in fashion or home decor Pins. Users can tap the circle on each item to find the styles they’re looking for. To buy an item, check out on Pinterest, or get things directly from the retailer. Pinterest introduced the ability to pinpoint products inside Pins in 2015.
Next up is Pinterest’s Lens tool,  that is currently in beta version. Lens allows people to turn products they spot in the real world to search. “Now people can discover ideas without having to find the right words to describe them first,” says Kendall.
Pinterest Lens uses people’s smartphone camera app to search for objects they see in the real world. Users can point to an object, say a pair of shoes, to tap to see related styles. It can even be used to find a furniture of a specific kind or recipes of food. According to the blogpost, Lens will get even better, and the range of objects it recognises will get increasingly wider.
Pinterest’s Instant Ideas will let users discover ideas inspired by the Pins they see in their home feeds. Users will now see a small circle appear on each Pin when they scroll through their feed. These circles can be tapped to see related ideas.