Pinterest Launches $500K Creator Fund, A New Content Policy, Moderation Tools, and More
Popular social networking site Pinterest hosted an event focused on its creator community recently where it introduced a set of updates comprising its $500K Creator Fund and “Creator Code,” a new content policy along with other moderation tools and updates. The company said that it aims to make sure the platform remains a “positive, inclusive and inspiring place with these changes.” With the launch of the new content guidelines, Pinterest creators will be required to fact-check their content, practice inclusion, practice discretion for visually sensitive content, be kind and make sure any call to action they make via the platform does no harm.
Creators will have to agree to and sign the Creator Code before posting any Story Pins. They will have to tap an “I Agree” button, meaning they accept the “Be Kind,” “Check my facts,” “Beware of triggers,” “Practice inclusion,” and “Do no harm” guidelines of the platform.
The company will enforce the Creator Code similar to how it implements the guidelines for its other content policies through machine learning and human review. However, the platform’s algorithm is designed to reward positive content and remove harmful content such as content that evokes anti-vaccination emotions. This might have a more significant effect on the kind of content shared on the platform instead of a simple pop-up agreement with straightforward statements.
While the Creator Code isn’t live yet, Pinterest will launch it soon for the creators to sign and adopt in the upcoming weeks, according to the company.
In addition to this, Pinterest also launched various new creator tools with the same objective of delivering a safer and more positive experience for all on the platform.
The company has introduced several comment moderation tools, enabling creators to filter and delete comments on their content and other features that will let them pin up to three comments in their comment section to feature positive feedback. Pinterest is also introducing new spam prevention tools that will help clear out some harmful comments by leveraging machine learning to identify and delete negative comments.
Pinterest is also introducing new “positivity reminders” that pops up, reminding users to reconsider potentially harmful comments before publishing them. These pop-up notifications are meant to prompt users to pause and edit their comments that others might find offensive. However, it does not stop them from posting it if they still want to proceed.
Besides these efforts, the company also announced its first-ever $500K Creator Fund at the recent event. The Creator Fund is primarily focused on supporting and uplifting Pinterest creators from underrepresented communities in the US. It will offer a combination of training, creative strategy consulting, and budget for content creation and ad credits. According to the company, at least 50% of the Creator Fund’s recipients will be from underrepresented communities.
Reportedly, Pinterest is initially committed to giving the $500K in cash and media throughout this year to the creators.
Alexandra Nikolajev, Creator Inclusion Lead at Pinterest, said that the company worked with eight rising creators across fashion, food, travel, and photography for the first participants of this program. For the next cohort, they will be spotting ten more creators in the upcoming months.
Adding to her statement, Nikolajev further said that they are on a journey to create a worldwide inclusive platform where Creators and Pinners from all over the world can find ideas that feel relevant, personalized, and reflective of who they are.
Following previous year’s allegations of numerous internal issues, comprising unfair pay, racism, sexism, and retaliation, which clashed with its image of being one of the “nicer” companies to work with in tech, Pinterest has been putting in efforts to reform its image. In spite of this fallout, including a lawsuit, petitions, employee walkout, etc., the issues that were raised were not always reflected in the company’s products.
Pinterest had earlier introduced several inclusive features such as “skin tone ranges” to help Pinners searching for beauty products find the correct matches for their skin tone. It also lets brands and retailers identify themselves as part of an underrepresented community, which enabled their content to show up in more places across the platform, such as in the Today tab, The Pinterest Shop, and Shopping Spotlights.
Wrapping It Up
Pinterest today enjoys more than 450 million daily active users globally. However, the platform is challenged by other big sites that also serve creators such as Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, etc., including newcomers like Clubhouse, which now funds creators’ shows, and Snapchat, which pays creators for Spotlight content. In the wake of this increased competition for creator interest, Pinterest is left feeling the need to have an incentive program of its own. The company has announced the launch of its $500K Creator Fund, a new content policy named Creator Code, and several moderation tools, along with other updates in its recent event focused on the creator community. With these changes, Pinterest aims to make its platform a positive, inclusive, and inspiring place for all.