Two years ago, Pinterest launched Place Pins adding a travel magazine-like experience to the popular social/search site. These enabled users to see information like the address of a place, phone numbers, etc. in a format designed to look natural to the Pinterest experience.
This week, Pinterest announced the update of seven billion pins with new location data and info. This is in response to travel becoming increasingly popular on the site/app.
“With these updates, it’s easier to visit the places you’ve Pinned,” Pinterest says. “In just a tap, Pinners can get directions through Google and Apple maps, call a business, visit a website, view hours of operations and top reviews from people who’ve been there.”
“As a discovery engine, we’re making it easier to discover new places to visit, restaurants to try and sights to see in your city and around the world,” it adds. “Now, when you save a Pin, we’ll show you other places to visit nearby on a map and other Pins people have saved from the same place.”
As Pinterest puts more focus on this local search type of experience, it’s bound to open up new opportunities for businesses with physical locations.
Pinterest is already presenting itself more and more as a search service (including to advertisers), and now that Pinterest is monetizing itself with promoted and buyable pins, it’s hard to imagine that some of this won’t translate to place pins as well.
Considering that most small businesses consider phone call to be the most important success metric, Pinterest’s expansion of Place Pins is surely a welcome move forward.
Here’s a look at the 20 top pinned places on Pinterest:
1. Positano, Campania, Italy
2. Musha Cay Island, Bahamas
3. Hanoi, Vietnam
4. Havasu Falls, Grand Canyon, Arizona, U.S.A.
5. Petrohué Falls, Chile
6. Jarlshof, Shetland, Scotland
7. Kyoto, Japan
8. Port Fairy, Victoria, Australia
9. Glacier National Park, Montana, U.S.A.
10. Tulum, Mexico
11. Lisbon, Portugal
12. New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.A.
13. Kjeragbolten, Norway
14. Marrakesh, Morocco
15. Cape Town, South Africa
16. Somoto’s Canyon, Nicaragua
17. Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.
18. Milford Sound, Fiordland National Park, New Zealand
19. Reykjavik, Iceland
20. New York City, New York, U.S.A.