Aiming at travelers, explorers, Pinterest lets users add location to pins

11/21/2013

NEW YORK — Pinterest, the online pinboard for sharing everything from wedding china ideas to travel inspiration, is now letting users add location to their pins.

San Francisco-based Pinterest says that its “Place Pins” were designed to “combine all the beautiful imagery of a travel magazine with the utility of a map and put it all online so you can share it with friends.” The new feature is available on Pinterest’s website and on the latest version of its mobile apps.

Pinterest says there are more than 750 million travel-related pins on the site already. With the new location-based pins, users will be able to create maps for friends visiting from out of town, or vacation spots they want to see. Pinterest launched the location tool with a slew of boards from travel sites, magazines and companies to serve as examples on how they could be used.

Conde Nast Traveler magazine, for example, created a map called the “Top 100 Hotels in the World,” while Fest 300 pinned one called “The World’s Best Festivals.” Many of the place pins include addresses, phone numbers and other useful information.

According to comScore, Pinterest has more than 53 million monthly users. The San Francisco-based company is privately held and is only testing the waters of generating revenue. The startup’s latest round of financing, $225 million, valued it at nearly $4 billion.