Pinterest extends visual search — off its site

Pinterest’s visual search capabilities just got broader.



On Monday, March 6, the social media site expanded its visual search technology into its browser extensions — a move that enables pinners to save images found online and use them as a jump-off point for discovering similar ideas on Pinterest, the company said.



Chrome is the first extension to receive the functionality.



The new tool, called the Pinterest browser button, enables pinners to hover over any digital image, select the magnifying tool, and click on the image. Pinterest will present similar items in real-time, using its image recognition software through the browser.



“With visual discovery now available across the web, out in the world and throughout Pinterest, really anything you see can be a starting point for a search,” Kent Brewster, Pinterest’s front-end engineer, said in the company’s blog. “Using the new Pinterest browser button, any image on any website can be a jumping off point for discovering ideas on Pinterest.”