Google+ Takes on Pinterest; Rolls Out New “Collections” Feature

Google appears to be seeking out new ways of pushing its social arm to Internet users. In fact, Google+ is taking a leaf out of another social network’s book and is adding a new feature that might hopefully be more widely embraced by Google+ users.

Google+ recently introduced “Collections”—a new feature designed to help users curate content—such as images, videos, and articles—based on a particular topic. [See Figure 1]

Figure 1 (Source: The Verge)

Dmitry Shapiro (@dmitry), Google’s Group Product Manager, announced the roll out in a Google+ post:

Our happiest Google+ users are those who connect with others around shared interests and passions. So we set out to give people a place to express the things they love. Today, we’re announcing Google+ Collections, a new way to group your posts by topic.

Interestingly, Collections looks somewhat similar to Pinterest boards. Just as Pinterest users can create boards revolving around specific topics, Google+ is doing the same through Collections. However, the difference between Pinterest’s boards and Google+’s Collections might just boil down to gender.

As most of us know, men aren’t that fond of using Pinterest. Google+, in contrast, is dominated by male users, and the social network is mainly comprised of early adopters, engineers, and developers. In other words, Collections might be a more male-oriented version of Pinterest’s boards.

With Google+’s new feature, users will be able to organize things that interest them into lists, which in turn, can be shared to the public or a particular audience segment. Once a user successfully creates a Collection, their profile will automatically add a new tab that allows other users to find and follow all their Collections.

To guide users into creating their first Collection, Shapiro shared a GIF that demonstrates how users can take advantage of the Collections feature. [See Figure 2 below]

Figure 2 (Source: Dmitry Shapiro’s Google+ post)

“Posts in collections you follow will appear in your Home stream, with a link to easily jump right into the collection so you can get to similar content from that author,” Shapiro added.

Collections on Google+ is a refreshing way to share posts, photos, and videos with friends and the public—which is why users are quick to try out this new feature. Cool examples include this Collection about Star Wars drawings, and this Collection about black and white photography. You can view more of Google+’s featured Collections here.

As per the announcement, Google+ Collections is now available on both Android and the Web, with iOS support in the works.

What do you think of this new Google+ feature? Will Collections eventually outdo Pinterest boards in terms of its number of users?

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