Pinterest launches 'Today' tab for daily trending topics

With most of the nation in quarantine and asked to stay home due to the COVID-19 outbreak, Pinterest has seen a record spike in usage as Pinners look for at-home inspiration. 

According to a recently-posted company update, “in the U.S., more people than ever were sending Pins to one another and idea sharing, with messages sent through [the] Send a Pin feature up 34%.” 

Due to this increase of use, Pinterest has moved up the launch of its ‘Today’ tab, launching it last week in the U.S. and U.K., with other countries to come at a later time. 

Pinterest on the rise

Pinterest became the third most popular social media app in the U.S. in 2019, with 322 million monthly active users. 

Pinterest is more than just the home decorating app some assume it to be. Rather, it’s often a platform used for businesses to help influence purchase decisions for their potential customers.

According to Social Sprout, half of all Milennials use Pinterest every month, with 86% saying Pinterst helps them plan life moments, big and small. Additionally, 89% of all US Pinners use Pinterest for inspiration in their path to purchase.

The platform isn’t just for shopping, though. It is a great tool for researching and finding solutions — and this can can help drive traffic and leads to your business’ website.

The Today feature

As people’s realities have changed, so too have their searches. According to Pinterest, “in the U.S., searches for ‘freezer meals’ are up 155% in the past two weeks, ‘working from home’ up 170% and ‘indoor activities with kids’ up 1,300%.”

Searches for “calming quotes,” “stress relief,” and “stress quotes” have either doubled or tripled in the past few weeks as well.

The ‘Today’ tab is a new feature that was created to offer a source of daily inspiration. The tab refreshes daily and will show curated topics as well as trending posts based on what’s going on in the world.

Source: Pinterest

"Over the coming weeks we’ll be featuring expert information here from the World Health Organization and Centers for Disease Control on topics like hand washing during the coronavirus epidemic. In addition, we’re also showing inspiration in categories that are particularly popular right now like kid-friendly baking ideas, self-care tips, family-favorite movies and comfort food recipes,” stated the Pinterest press release.

For the time being, the ‘Today’ tab, located above the home feed within the app for iOS and Android, will have ideas curated by the Pinterest team — and in the future it will start to feature guest editors. 

Don’t worry. Your home feed will continue to show personalized recommendations.

On top of launching the ‘Today’ tab, Pinterest has expanded its “compassionate search” experience tool to the web, to make the mental wellness feature available to everyone on all platforms. 

With this feature, when you search for terms like “stress relief” or “stress quotes,” you will see not only quotes, but also a collection of emotional well-being activities to help you relax and feel better.

These activities were created with the help of emotional health experts at Brainstorm, the Stanford Lab for Mental Health Innovation, and with advice from Vibrant Emotional Health and the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.

Pinterest has been working hard to understand how you and others use the platform — hoping to build experiences to help people stay positive.

This feature was previously launched last year and was only available in the app on iOS and Android.

Brands and Pinterest

Despite the platform’s growth, only about 28% of marketers actively using Pinterest as part of their strategy.

However, the platform offers great opportunity. 

• According to Sprout Social: 77% of weekly Pinners have discovered a new product or brand on Pinterest
• 1 in 2 people make a purchase after seeing a promoted pin

While users are certainly being cautious about spending money during this time, there is still an increased usage of Pinterest — and these newly-released features promise to boost usage even further. 

If people find something they are interested in buying, they will save it and come back to purchase when the time is right. Or, you never know — they may just splurge and buy it right away.