Pinterest announced a new initiative designed to help the company increase its pace of innovations. The company is introducing an internal team of experimental products called twotwenty – named for the address of Pinterest's first office.
The team is made up of engineers, designers, and other product experts who will research, prototype, and test new features and ideas, then identify those that catch on. Successful products will be handed off to other teams within the company to scale.
The team has already participated in some of the latest launches of Pinterest, indicates the company.
Its first approach was through live streamed creator events, which later evolved to include features like the ability to rewatch live streams and support for shopping product recommendations.
These became part of the recently announced product of Pinterest, "Pinterest TV," an in-app live shopping feature that aims to compete with rival services from Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and other dedicated live streaming shopping platforms.
Programming pinterest tv includes a host of creator "shows," where fans can interact and ask questions while participating in the live shopping event. And it offers a virtual studio for creators, which was also an idea that grew out of TwoTwenty's work, says Pinterest.
The idea of creating an internal team dedicated to new project ideas and business models comes at a time when Pinterest is trying to reinvent itself for the new trends in social networks, focused more on formats such as video and live streaming. with creators maturing quickly.
The launch of Pinterest TV represented a significant shift away from the original idea of image-based Pinterest where users research and discover new ideas, which can translate into online purchases.
With videos and live purchases, Pinterest has as purpose appeal to a younger demographic that has grown up with social apps like Instagram and TikTok, where video and live content are critical to building the experience.
If it fails to make this transition, it could be on its way to losing prominence in the social platform sector. have actually appeared news in which it was stated that Pinterest was in the focus of PayPal acquisitions, although they have stated don't pursue an acquisition at this time.
- twotwenty includes product lead David Temple, in charge of creator products, engineer Ryan Probasco, chief content officer Meredith Arthur, formerly of CBS, and Albert Pereta, who joined Pinterest through the acquisition of Iceberg in 2014; among others. In total, there are 15 people working full time in the team and their goal actively recruit new members.
It is common among large technology companies to channel their efforts to drive innovation through dedicated teams.
Facebook, for example, launched its «NPE team» in 2019 to test new ideas and features, to see how users would react. In this time none have grown enough to become their own brand of Facebook (now Meta); instead, they have informed the development of other Facebook and Instagram features.
Meanwhile, Google had been allowing its most entrepreneurial employees to experiment within its internal incubator of the The store 120. By comparison, this group has launched a number of successful products that have spilled over into other areas of Google's business, including Search, Shopping, Commerce, and Cloud. That team has now been elevated with the recent reorganization under new leadership and is combined with other long-term focused innovations such as the holographic video conferencing project known as Project Starline.
"With TwoTwenty, we prioritize a collaborative approach and accelerate ideas from company employees," said Temple. "With the resources of an established brand, we can explore and invest in new solutions to help people find inspiration to live the life they want."
