Pinterest is making planning group projects simpler. On Wednesday, July 11, Pinterest launched several new tools for group boards, designed to streamline communication with group members on shared projects.
The first change for group Pinners is the new activity feed for group boards. The feed tracks all the changes within that group board, including when a member adds a Pin or creates a new section. The activity feed, Pinterest says, is designed both for easily spotting what’s happening on the board as well as having conversations within the board, since all the members will see new pins and comments using the tool.
Expanding on those group conversations, Pinterest has also worked to create more seamless conversations around those Pins. Likes, comments and mentions will now start a new thread, encouraging conversation within the group board.
Both the activity feed and streamlined conversations are for group members only, Pinterest says only group members can see the conversations and activity feed. The updates are a direct result of feedback from users, Pinterest says, who requested easier group communication within the platform.
Group boards are popular for planning parties and events within a larger group, Pinterest says, but group boards can be started on any number of topics. Unlike the typical Pinterest board, group boards allow Pinterest users to invite other collaborators, turning the board from a spot to save ideas to a place to make suggestions within a group. Users can turn boards into group boards by clicking on the edit option within a board and adding other Pinterest users in the collaboration section.
While group boards have been around for awhile, the update aims to make communication with that group streamlined. With the activity feed, notifications from active groups are less likely to get missed. Feeds could also make conversations on the board easier between group members. Pinterest says the change is part of the network’s ongoing process of enhancing events and projects sparked from within the network, including an update earlier this year to dump outdated pins and enhanced search tools.
The group updates are rolling out globally to both the apps and the Pinterest website.