Pinterest is rolling out a beta version of its development platform, allowing developers to tap into data of Pinterest users who connect their accounts to external applications. The company plans to methodically bring in developers as part of a whitelist.
When a developer taps into a user’s boards, they will get information about the kinds of things they have pinned. They can then figure out unique ways to use that information. Internally, one project involved shipping recipe data that users have pinned over to Instacart, which users could then use to order ingredients for recipes they were interested in cooking.
“We hosted an internal event to see what people in here would build on top of that, and the results were really cool,â€ÂJosh Inkenbrandt, Pinterest’s developer platform lead said.
“So we realized, we need to be able to start opening this up and see what developers would want to do. We crafted our policies to make sure the incentives are aligned with developers, with Pinterest and obviously with our users. For us, an app that’s great is an app where our Pinners are the ones that are benefited the most.â€Â
Pinterest user information is generally public (they post pins to boards that anyone can view), but the company says that apps will still require authorization from users, and those users can revoke access to their information at any point. The company has already set up a rigorous policy for new developers and says it has zero tolerance for “bad actors.â€Â
Developers can sign up for the whitelist to build apps for Pinterest starting today.
