Pinterest Is Diving Into The World Of Live Streaming With A Series Of Live Creator Events
Source: Pinterst
Later this month, Pinterest will dive into the world of live streaming.
The social media platform announced on Twitter that it will be running a series of live creator events exclusively on its app between May 24th and May 26th.
We're testing live events! @Pinterest will bring Creators and Pinners together for a 3-day virtual event on the app on May 24-26th. We’ll give Pinners access to drop into live-streamed, studio-style sessions directly on Pinterest. https://t.co/nWR1iLB3XM
— Marie-Joëlle Parent (@mariejoelle) May 13, 2021
Three Days Of Live Creator Events
Over the three day event, 21 Pinterest creators, including Jonathan Van Ness, Rebecca Minkoff, GrossyPelosi, Peter Som, DixonFit, and more, will host live streams around various topics such as cooking, design, fashion, and fitness.
Source: Pinterest
With event titles such as "3 Meals, 10 Ingredients," "Making The Easiest, Most Perfect Summer Dessert," and "WERKing Out With Everday House Items," the events are focused on niche topics, making them a bit more intriguing than typical live streams.
The First in-app Live Streaming Experience
Pinterest previously tested live streaming this past fall with a "Class Communities" feature, but it was different from this newer test. The feature allowed Pinners to sign up for Zoom classes with creators to organize materials, notes, and more on Pinterest. This current test marks the first time the platform brings a live streaming experience directly to its app.
Along with creators being able to live stream in-app, up to five guests can join creators during their stream, and the amount of viewers is unlimited. There will also be chat functionality, which Pinterest employees will moderate to ensure that viewers are abiding by Pinterest's Community Standards.
As of right now, these live events look to be a limited-time offering as Pinterest hasn't confirmed any long-term plans for incorporating live streaming as a standard function of its app.
"As a visual platform, people discover billions of ideas on Pinterest every day, and we're always looking for new ways to help them bring those ideas to life," David Temple, Pinterest's head of Creators, shared with TechCrunch.
The emergence of live streaming in the u.s.
With the emergence of live streaming in the U.S. this past year, it's not a surprise to see Pinterest join in on the action and start testing native live streaming.
Beyond thus trend, it makes a lot of sense for Pinterest to leverage live streaming considering how popular instructional and educational content like cooking recipes, tutorials, and how-tos are on the platform. There has also been an increased demand for video content on Pinterest, especially with the recent wide rollout of Pin Stories, its take on the popular Stories content format. These factors combined make live streaming a valuable format for Pinners.
A Potential Future Version Of Pinterest Live Streaming
One thing that I am surprised by though is that these live streams won't have shopping functionality. It seems like every day, Pinterest is strengthening its shopping capabilities with new e-commerce features and tools to help marketers drive conversions and sales. Due to this, I thought there would be some sort of shopping tie-in, such as allowing viewers to purchase products that creators use in their streams, similarly to what Instagram Live allows.
But, on the other hand, this is being positioned as a test, which makes me think that Pinterest is more focused on seeing how live streaming resonates with Its community first. If these live streams end up being success and rolled out to all brands and creators, it’s highly likely there will be shopping component.
As I've mentioned in previous posts about Pinterest, I continue to be excited and impressed by the moves that it has made throughout the pandemic. It's doing a great job of catering to both marketers and creators as separate entities as well as when they come together for sponsored collaborations. The platforms that do this can’t lose.
If you're looking to read more about the live events and view the schedule, you can do so by visiting Pinterest's new Live tab.
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SOURCE: TechCrunch
