Google Launches Keen As an Alternative to Pinterest

Google has launched Keen, a new social networking site that shares a lot in common with Pinterest. Keen focuses on your passions, whether that’s baking bread or bird-watching. Helping you curate and share a collection of resources around your hobby.

Google Launches Another Social Networking Site

Google has its fingers in lots of different pies. It practically owns search, powers advertising across the web, and boasts Android, Gmail, Maps, and YouTube as well. However, the one area Google has continually failed to succeed at is social media.

We had Google Friend Connect, Orkut, and Google Buzz. And then Google launched Google+ in an effort to compete with Facebook. Sadly, Google+ failed spectacularly

Google Shuts Down Google+ After Data Leak
Google is shutting down Google+, at least for consumers. This is due to low engagement levels, as well as a potential data leak.
Read More

, leaving Google without a social network of its own. However, Keen may just fill that void.

What Is Keen and How Does It Work?

Keen is a Pinterest alternative clearly inspired by the popular social media service. It lets you curate and share collections of resources around particular interests, with Google helping you find new resources using its machine learning technology.

As detailed on The Keyword, Keen was developed at Area 120, which specializes in experimental projects. However, Area 120 worked in collaboration with People and AI Research (PAIR), a Google team “dedicated to human-centered machine learning systems.”

[embedded content]

It’s Google’s machine learning technology that helps differentiate Keen from Pinterest. You make a “keen” on a topic that interests you, and add some related content. This content then acts like seeds, with the machine learning using them to build out your collection.

Still, even with this machine learning edge, the similarities between Keen and Pinterest are obvious. And Google faces an uphill battle wrestling users away from Pinterest and over to Keen. Still, with Keen available on Android and the web, it may be worth checking out.