Tech
Pinterest launches Today tab to beat your COVID-19 blues
The internet's pinboard has seen a surge in craft, cooking, gardening, and lesson-planning searches since the outbreak.
Bored at home? Tired of staying inside? Don't know when you'll go out, if ever? On top of the public health crisis COVID-19 has sparked, it's left many people restless as they self-quarantine. Pinterest wants to alleviate some of that existential boredom and dread with its brand new Today tab.
How Pinterest's Today tab works — If you open the latest version of the Pinterest mobile app, you'll notice the addition of a Today tab at the top of the screen. This tab will lead you to what Pinterest calls "popular and timely ideas," presumably referring to quarantine-inspired activities. The company also plans to prominently display COVID-19 information from the World Health Organization and Centers for Disease Control on its website soon.
Inspo-hub for your cabin fever — You'll also notice a consolidated and rather recent inspo-hub on Pinterest. This central spot offers ideas for kid-friendly recipes, art, design, movies, and much more. This is what it looks like.
Safety and inspiration — To help its community feel better, Pinterest also has a community board where it urges its users to stay inspired but also safe within their homes. At the time of this writing, this board boasts a total of 1,273,248 users. With 351 pins, the board offers "comforting words," simple recipes, home workouts to beat stress, interior decor ideas, activities for toddlers, checklists for self-care, a home office inspo board (which must be heavenly for people who find themselves working remote suddenly), and more.
Business is good for Pinterest — With cities and states amplifying their calls for locals to practice quarantine, people have turned to the internet's favorite pinboard for inspiration for recipes, gardening, interior design, crafts, lesson-planning, self-care ideas, and a lot more. Pinterest brings this up as well in its announcement.
"As people adjust to a new normal, they’re coming to Pinterest to stay inspired," the company stated on Tuesday. "In fact, over the last weekend, we saw an all-time high around the world with more saves and searches on the platform than any other weekend in our history."
"There has also been significant growth in use cases like planning what to cook, finding lesson plans and craft projects for kids, and tips for growing vegetables," it added. "And in the United States, more people than ever were sending Pins to one another and idea sharing, with messages sent through our Send a Pin feature up 34 percent." It looks like Pinterest continues to be the internet's non-problematic fave.
