Facebook Unveils Pinterest Look-Alike Experimental App ‘Hobbi’

It seems that Facebook has decided to target Pinterest users now. The company has recently released an experimental app called ‘Hobbi’ where users can document their personal projects and hobbies. From the initial view, this app looks like a clone of Pinterest. This app has taken many cues from Pinterest but it goes a long way. ‘Hobbi’, the photo-sharing app allows users to organize their creative process into a themed collection. Users can make a themed collection for their hobbies like art and craft, recipes, and many others. A lack of social networking component is something, which differentiates this app from other Facebook apps and Pinterest. It enables the users to make a video highlight reel to share via other social platforms. ‘Hobbi’ has been developed by Facebook’s experimental project group.

Facebook has built its product Experimentation team last year itself. The team is called the NPE team. It aims to develop experimental apps outside of the firm’s core brands. This team has developed many tentative apps like a meme making app ‘Whale’, social networking app ‘Bump’ and music DJ mix app called ‘Aux’. However, none of them has attracted much attention from the users. The new app ‘Hobbi’ was initially launched in Columbia, Belgium, Spain, and Ukraine. The app is said to be compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod. It runs smoothly on iOS 11.0 and other advanced versions.

Reports suggest that hours after the launch of ‘Hobbi’, the shares of Pinterest have fallen more than 4 percent. Although this app has a limited release but the features of the app pose a direct competition with Pinterest. Experts say that ‘Hobbi’ lacks the discoverability, search, and recommendations that Pinterest has. The officials of Pinterest have made it clear that ‘Hobbi’ is a different product; it does not have any similarity with their app. Facebook officials have said that the NPE team might make some changes in the app and if it does not work, they will shut it down.