Pinterest Launches ‘TwoTwenty Labs’ Incubator To Drive Product Innovation
Source: Pinterest
Pinterest launched TwoTwenty Labs, a new in-house team, made up of engineers, designers, and content and product experts, that is focused on driving innovation through tests and experiments.
“Named after the address of the first Pinterest office, TwoTwenty is an incubator team made up of engineers, designers, and content and product experts dedicated to the rapid testing and launching of new ideas like Pinterest TV,” Pinterest said in a press release.
How TwoTwenty Will Work
After ideas are submitted and triaged through Makeathons and an internal submission portal called Idea Factory, the team will manage the full innovation process including research, prototyping, and testing before passing off validated projects to the appropriate teams to be scaled and officially launched.
This team was behind many of the aspects of Pinterest TV, the platform's recently launched creator-led live shopping experience, providing an example of what type of product updates and experiences could come in the future.
“TwoTwenty’s first exploration was with live-streamed creator events, which evolved based on creator and Pinner feedback to include features like rewatching and shopping product recommendations, which are now included in today’s version of Pinterest TV. As part of the effort, the team launched a virtual studio with producers who work directly with creators to develop content and go live on a “stage” in front of millions of Pinners,” Pinterest shared.
Source: Pinterest
Innovations At A Faster Rate
TwoTwenty seems to be along the same lines as Meta's NPE Team and Google's Area 120, which are also in-house incubators.
Pinterest is often overlooked when discussing social media platforms, but it has made a number of impressive developments in the last few years, such as shoppable content, AR Try-On, similar product recommendations, affiliate link support, and of course, live shopping.
With the newly established innovation team, Pinterest can invest in new innovations at a faster rate, which is becoming increasingly important as social media platforms vie for users.
As with recent launches and its focus on the creator economy, expect TwoTwenty's initial launches to connect brands and creators in new ways while helping consumers find products and services they love.
