Facebook quietly launches Pinterest-like competitor for hobbyists

To compete with Pinterest, Facebook has launched Hobbi, an application designed to help users document progress made on their hobbies. Image: AFP/Leon Neal via AFP Relaxnews

A few days ago, Facebook’s NPE (New Product Experimentation) team quietly launched a mobile app called Hobbi that looks and sounds suspiciously similar to Pinterest.

Based on the application’s description on the App Store, there are three main purposes of Hobbi: to document and organize one’s creative process, to review one’s progress made on a particular project or craft over time, and to share one’s accomplishments or growth with friends and family members.

All this can be done by saving and organizing content surrounding themes like cooking and baking, do-it-yourself (DIY) projects, arts and crafts, fitness, or home décor ideas into various albums in a way similar to Pinterest boards.

Like previous apps created by Facebook’s NPE Team, whether Hobbi will be here to stay will be completely reliant on the app’s success; if it does not resonate well with the public, it will simply disappear.

Right now, Hobbi is only available for download on iOS devices in select regions. If it performs well, Android users could look forward to gaining access to the app in the future, otherwise, they will have to settle for Pinterest. CL/JB

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