Facebook tests easier sharing for its Pinterest-like Collections feature

Facebook is trying to make Collections, a feature you’ve probably forgotten about, more useful. The Pinterest-like tool lets you save and organize content like posts, photos and videos. Until recently, you could share Collections with specific friends, but over the past few months, Facebook has been rolling out a feature that allows users in the US to share Collections publicly, with all friends or with “collaborators.”

Rather than manually enter each friend you’d like to share a Collection with, you can select “public” or “friends.” If you want to share the content with just select friends, you can choose “contributors only,” but they’ll be able to add to and edit the Collection. Collections can also be followed. Of course, you can still keep the content private.

The change was spotted by a Twitter user and reported by TechCrunch. Facebook reportedly said it’s currently testing the change in the US and that it’s been used to share recipes, articles, health and wellness info and COVID-19 information. The changes could be seen as an attempt to better compete with Pinterest, but Facebook told TechCrunch that this is about helping users build community and express themselves.

Facebook Collections have been around for years. In 2018, the company promoted them as a way to share holiday shopping lists. Earlier this year, Google introduced its own Collections as a way to save, organize and share searches, and of course, Instagram has Collections too. At a time when there is so much info available, companies clearly see a benefit to letting users organize and share curated content.