Pinterest Unveils New Image Search
By Carlton Wilcoxson • November 18, 2015
Pinterest is making big changes to its search functionality that involve machine learning and image recognition techniques. In a blog post, engineering manager Kevin Jing unveiled what the company calls their “Crazy-fun new visual search tool,” which lets users of the company’s mobile app search for aspects of individual pictures.
Pinterest users on phones and tablets can click on furniture, tattoos, pieces of clothing, or anything else in a picture, and Pinterest will then search its archives for other objects that resemble it. The feature will also be available on Pinterest’s website for desktop and laptop users.
The new functionality also significantly ups Pinterest’s search and advertising games. As the Wall Street Journal’s Yoree Koh notes, it gives advertisers a significant database of what users are searching for—by indexing individual objects, it creates a knowledge bank which can be leveraged for later advertising purposes.