when I have to filter a site to get results I can use there is a problem and there needs to be an easy method to permanent filter such sites.
Google released a Chrome addon that filters sites, but this doesn't help users of other browsers and it hadn't been updated in over three years.
That is perhaps the most frustrating part of it. Often I'm looking for the original source of something and then Pinterest comes inbetween like some viral search spam.
(Kind of makes me wonder if the early days of printing press with no copyright were comparable)
There it is, right there. 'Growth team' - a team dedicated to using every dirty trick in the book to retain users. Facebook has one too, and that team was responsible for all the shady cross-app data sharing on peoples phones.
Instead of treating your users as 'assets' simply to be owned and controlled, why not actually ask them about their experience of using your service? Sure, you'll only get a few percent of responders but it's a start.
Also, these sites need to factor in that a significant number of people are reducing their social media usage, and this includes sites like Pinterest. Sometimes a service just reaches the end of it's life, and that's ok.
Personally I really dislike Pinterest, I do not see the purpose it serves, and as a non Pinterest user, I have issue with Google searches throwing up Pinterest links that are of no use to me whatsoever.
I am not affiliated are.na. I am just a happy user.
Yeah, you do, you said so in the first paragraph. But as I just told my wife, it’s why I (and you, I presume) aren’t billionaires: I’m all focused on how it serves the user, while completely ignoring that I’ve built a Christmas wish list for adults and I can beat that monetization drum until the head breaks.
I use Pinterest on a weekly basis for recipes because my wife and I share a board. Evidently I’m a power user by their metric.
But the problem is they are bound by impossible growth projections, which prevent them from making Pinterest into the best once-weekly-recipe-tool.
In my opinion their search for social media dominance is a real drawback.
I have multiple friends who are addicted to just scrolling through pinterest. The few times where I've thought it might be useful I've been stopped from using it and told to make an account (I don't want to post anything back to them, I don't see why I should have to keep track of yet another set of credentials just for them.)
If they where less aggressive toward their current and potential users and instead looked at them with realistic and helpful attitude they would probably be awesome. Right now I want nothing to do with them and I personally stay away.
They did mention contacting users and, as is usual, got only the symptom, not the underlying cause. Talking to users is great to understand why something happens is great, but it has to be translated through deep product insight to be useful.
I used similar platforms in the past. When I have time I'd spend a lot of it on there, and when I didn't have time anymore (new job, etc) I didn't use the platform much. This is perfectly normal and no amount of "retentions" or "re-engagement" bullshit will make me spend more time on there unless they pay me enough where spending time on the platform becomes more lucrative than my day job.
If you are a Pinterest user and are interested in a large collection of fantasy/cyberpunk artwork, you can see how I use it here (registration required of course):
In the main, I'd only ever pinned images I found on the site itself, so I thought "why pick on me, I'm not the one who originally pinned it?"
But I didn't go though my stuff and look for any other TOS violating images (I really didn't think I had any) and then I was perm-banned. You have no recourse once that happens.
Caveat emptor — its puritanical standards are likely to bite anyone who plays outside the recipes and sewing categories into anything interesting in the art and photography domains.
Screw you, Pinterest.
also the recommendations get old quick its just my previous searches aggregated gets boring quick. The instagram explore page has my valuable time these days - it uses my searches plus things related to those to find new things on many topics and ability to say "not relevant" is awesome - all i need now is the ability to block anything "#lifehack"!
