Keen: Google launches new curation app to take on Pinterest

The app will use machine learning to recommend articles and pictures

(Credit: Google)

Google has quietly announced an app that lets you curate content from the web, similar to Pinterest.

The app, called Keen, was launched as part of Google’s workshop for experimental projects Area 120.

It is available now, through the browser or an Android app, with sign-in via a user’s Google account.

The website is comprised of large animations and a scrolling ticker of things users might be interested in such as “be a better introvert” and “Start an organic farm”.

“You make a ‘keen,’ which can be about any topic, whether it’s baking delicious bread at home, getting into birding or researching typography. Keen lets you curate the content you love, share your collection with others and find new content based on what you have saved,” wrote Google’s Cj Adams in a blog post.

Keen can save multiple kinds of content, including but not limited to articles, YouTube videos, blog posts, and shopping links.

Users can also follow other keens that have been created, similar to following another person’s board on Pinterest. You can alternatively make them private, visible to only the user that created it.

The breakout feature of the application is the potential for Google’s machine learning capabilities.

“The more you save to a keen and organize it, the better the recommendations become. Even if you’re not an expert on a topic, you can start curating a keen and save a few interesting “gems” or links that you find helpful,” Adams writes.

Pinterest also invests heavily in machine learning for its recommendation algorithm and Trends feature, enough to gain 50 million new users to the platform each year.

Nevertheless, it does not appear as if Google is going to use its machine learning might to keep people constantly checking the app.

“Keen isn’t intended to be a place to spend endless hours browsing. Instead, it’s a home for your interests: a place to grow them, share them with loved ones and find things that will help in making this precious life count” the post concludes.