Pinterest Tests New Full-Screen, Vertical Scrolling Feed for Pin Discovery

It seems that Pinterest is the latest social media app looking to lean into the TikTok-inspired trend of a scrolling, vertical feed of content, with a new ‘Watch’ mode being tested for Pin discovery.

As you can see in this example, posted by user @KenSchillinger, the new full-screen discovery option includes both a ‘Browse’ and a ‘Watch’ display, with the ‘Browse’ mode being the traditional Pinterest search feed, and the ‘Watch’ mode switching to a TikTok-style presentation of the same, with both video and still image Pins displayed in the vertical scrolling stream.

We reached out to Pinterest for comment, which provided the following statement:

“We’re always testing new products and features to help our community of Pinners discover inspiring ideas, while building more ways for Creators and brands to reach a global audience intent on trying new things.”

Pinterest didn’t provide any specific info on this test, nor how many users can access the Watch feed. But again, it seems like the popularity of TikTok is inspiring even more UX choices in more apps, as platforms look to move in line with emerging usage behaviors, and maximize engagement.

Which makes sense. TikTok has been the most downloaded app each month for almost two years running, and its growth momentum is unlike any social app we’ve seen in the past. That’s lead to whole new interactive processes, and prompted Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat to build their own TikTok-like content feeds, as they seek to keep in touch with audience shifts.

It’s a logical progression, in this respect, for Pinterest to at least try the same. I mean, if an app has visual-aligned content, and they know that people are increasingly looking to view such in a vertical, full-screen feed, why not provide a means for them to do so, with a view to maximizing user engagement.

It could be a small-scale test, and it could fall flat, but again, it seems like a sensible experiment – and with Pinterest already aligning with the social Stories trend (through Idea Pins), it also fits into the app’s more progressive approach to development.

Will that help people discover more content via Pins, and boost the platform’s development as an eCommerce showcase tool? We’ll keep you updated on any progress.