Pinterest is building a native video player and updating its visual search tools to work on videos. The move could potentially transform the way users engage with pins, and the type of content that makes it on to the platform. It could also encourage influential, and popular, social media users to utilize Pinterest as part of their wider digital strategy.
“Video is just a better way of explaining a lot of things,” Steve Davis, video product lead at Pinterest, told TechCrunch. “There’s a reason cooking shows are really popular, it’s more entertaining than just reading an article.”
In the past, Pinterest has flirted with video content, which has always been shared on its service. Meanwhile, creators have been able to add videos to their uploads by embedding them.
Debuting a native video player, however, and making it compatible with the platform’s visual search tool is an entirely new (and somewhat tricky) proposition. The latter will scan videos to help categorize them, and make them easier to discover. Perhaps one day it will even point viewers in the direction of buyable Pins related to the items used in a video. The feature already boasts a similar function for photos.
Other social networks have incorporated shopping features into their platforms to varying results. Pinterest, on the other hand, has implemented an e-commerce strategy that is helping it to bridge online and offline retail in new and meaningful ways. By jumping on the video bandwagon, which is fast becoming a priority for its rivals due to the format’s high level of engagement, Pinterest could further enhance the shopping experience on its platform.
Pinterest’s new video player and its updated visual search tool will be rolled out in the coming months.
