That difference is by design. Pinterest is a visual search and discovery platform that people use as an alternative to traditional search engines. Unlike social media platforms that optimize for engagement via enragement at any cost, Pinterest is built to deliver inspiration, positivity and safe discovery.
Here’s how we’ve built the space to support it:
Teen accounts default to private—and are private-only for 13-15 year olds. Teens cannot be found by strangers through people search.
Messaging is limited to mutual followers, and only followers a teen has explicitly approved can see their profile and boards.
Comments are off by default for teen users, removing one of the most common vectors for harassment and comparison.
By stripping out the broadcast layer, we’ve created a space where teens don’t have to perform—they can just be.
Pinterest for your self, not your selfie
Supporting teen identity exploration
Teens are constantly grappling with the age-old question: “Who am I? Where do I fit in? Where do I want to go next?” Social media platforms encourage teens to curate an external, highly polished version of themselves to gain approval from others. But as a visual search platform, teens aren’t using Pinterest to build a personal brand: they’re creating, remixing, and exploring their own identities.
More than 77% of active teen users use the Pinterest Search bar to proactively explore their interests, and teens access their settings and home feed controls at nearly 2x the rate of other age groups.4 Because we make it easy to refine your recommendations, teens can shape and reshape their experience as quickly as their interests shift.
When you look at what they’re actually searching for and saving, the picture is vivid. While much of the internet pushes teens to focus on their outward appearance, Pinterest is where they go to cultivate their inner worlds:
Artistic Pursuits: Drawing references, anime styles, sketch tutorials, and photography poses. Teens want to make something; teens overindex in art search by 1.26x vs other age groups.2
Personal Spaces: Phone wallpapers, bedroom decor and other ways to personalize their daily environments to feel like home are hot topics.
What you don’t see leading the charts? Their own appearance. Teens are using Pinterest to learn more about the things they love and want to create, not to curate how they look to others.
By shifting the focus from public validation to personal inspiration, we’re giving teens the space they need to grow, dream, and figure out who they want to be on their own terms.
