Digital creation platform Picsart is launching new in-app communities dedicated to specific topics and interests, the company announced on Tuesday. The communities are called “Spaces” and are described as a place where users can connect and create around the things that they love.
In a blog post, Picsart explained that it sees Spaces as collaborative forums or group chats with people who share the same interests. When you’re in a Space, you can browse, post content and like and comment on other’s posts.
Some of the current Spaces on Picsart are titled “Cats,” “Generative AI,” “K-pop Fans” and “Light Effect Edits.” You can suggest new Spaces for Picsart to create. Picsart plans to offer users the ability to create and moderate their own Spaces in the future.
“Maybe you’re sharing your latest k-pop album art edit, or showing others how to use a new AI tool,” Picsart wrote in the blog post. “Maybe you’re looking to find new nature content and just want to get inspired. Whatever it is, Spaces is a way to express your passions, collaborate and get inspired by others, learn new tips and tricks, and have an easier content discovery experience.”
Picsart explains that for the more technical Spaces, like “Light Effect Edits” and “AI Replace,” users are sharing tips and tricks. As for more general interest Spaces, it’s all about content and user discovery.
To get started with Spaces, you have to first make sure you have the most up-to-date version of Picsart. From there, you should see the new Spaces icon on the top-right corner of your screen. You can browse through different communities and engage with content even if you aren’t a member of that Space yet. If you want to create a post, you will have to join the Space. Once you have joined, you can tap the bar at the bottom of the screen labeled “create a post” and click the image library icon on the left, which will open up your camera roll and allow you to select an image to post. You also have the option to post directly from the Picsart editor or your profile.
The rest of the feature functions like any other social platform. You can tap the heart icon to like a post, tap the message icon to comment and tap the “Remix” button to continue editing and iterating upon another user’s post. If you want to report a post, you can do so by tapping the three dots on the top right of a post.
Picsart has over 150 million monthly active users and 80% of them are under the age of 35. The company says its popularity and growth is tied to what Gen Z wants and right now, it believes that’s micro-communities. In early testing, Picsart saw Spaces users generating 15x more content and seeing 20x more post engagement across the platform.
With Spaces, Picsart says it’s focused on driving engagement between users and enabling easier content discovery, which opens up the potential for premium and collaborative features in the future. The company says it’s exploring more direct monetization down the line.
Although Picsart already has some social features, such as the ability to follow others, the launch of Spaces indicates that the company wants to build out its platform beyond its digital creation tools and focus more on social collaboration. The introduction of Spaces also comes at a time when users are looking for alternatives to Twitter, which has been going downhill since Elon Musk purchased the social network last year.
Spaces is currently available to all users in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia for both standard and Gold members. Picsart plans to roll out Spaces to more users soon.
Source @TechCrunch
