Pinterest lets you make boards private with Secret Boards
The social-bookmarking site adds a new privacy option in the form of a board you don't have to share with anyone else.
For the holidays this year, Pinterest is giving its users a gift that's rarely found on the Internet: more privacy.
The social-bookmarking site today began testing private boards that can be seen only by you and whomever else you choose. It's one of the company's most frequently requested features, Pinterest Software Engineer Evrhet Milam wrote in a blog post today.
The test is rolling out gradually to all Pinterest users and lets each user create up to three of these "Secret Boards," which can be set up on the Web and on mobile.
These boards won't show up anywhere else in Pinterest, that includes search results, your followers' home feed, or your own home feed.
"We hope that Secret Boards will make Pinterest even more useful," Milam wrote. "You can use Secret Boards to keep track of holiday gifts, plan a special event, or work on a project you aren't yet ready to share with the rest of the world. You can keep your Secret Boards to yourself or invite family and friends to pin with you."
To create a Secret Board from the Web, scroll down to the bottom of your profile and click Create a Secret Board. You can also click Add+ on the top right-hand corner of Pinterest to select Create Board and switch the Secret button on. Mobile users will need to download the most recent version of Pinterest, available for iOS and Android. The updated versions let you create a board from your profile by tapping the Boards tab. Just scroll to the bottom till you see a button that says Create a Secret Board.
Currently, you can create only new Secret Boards. Existing boards can't be made private, because other people may have already repinned from them.
Once you reach the three Secret Board limit, you'll need to delete one or make one public before you can create another one. No need to worry if your friends invite you to pin to their Secret Board, it won't count as one of your boards.
Pinterest has updated its privacy policy with the new boards and also took the opportunity to make its policy readable, Milam wrote. The policy explains in plain language what kind of information the site collects whenever you log on. This includes what kind of device you're using, what Web sites you visit, and, if you're using a mobile device, where you're pinning from. Check out the revised policy here.