New York – Relentlessly striving to popularize itself in the social sphere, emerging social bookmarking giant Pinterest has quietly kicked off 2013 with an acquisition of its own, its first in fact, by scooping up a tasty recipe aggregator Punchfork, the startup announced Thursday.
Neither Pinterest nor Punchfork will say how much money changed hands, but Pinterest spokesperson Annie Ta confirmed that Pinterest is acquiring Punchfork’s technology, which could offer a peek at how Pinterest is looking to expand its platform. It further said, Punchfork will shut down and its founder and CEO Jeff Miller will join Pinterest’s team. This is the first acquisition for Pinterest since launching in 2008.
Punchfork CEO Jeff Miller disclosed the news today via a message to users. While support for Punchfork will continue for now, the company will ultimately retire its website, API, and mobile apps.
“We believe that a unified destination benefits our users in the long run,” Miller said. “The Punchfork team will focus on contributing to Pinterest as the premier platform for discovering and sharing new recipes and other interests on the web.”
While specifics about the integration of the two sites are scarce, Punchfork will likely find it easy to establish shop on Pinterest. It already has a very Pinterest-esque layout, with tiled images showcasing recipes for almond cupcakes, spinach feta turkey burgers, meatball sub casserole, and gluten-free cinnamon buns.
“Punchfork helps people discover popular new recipes in a visual way and encourages them to share these recipes with their family and friends,” a Pinterest spokeswoman said. “People come to Pinterest to find inspiration for their everyday lives and we think Punchfork’s mission aligns with this well.”
Apart from being pretty appealing, Punchfork culls recipes from popular food blogs like ‘The Kitchn’, ‘The Pioneer Woman’, and ‘David Lebovitz’, and displays them out in a Pinterest-esque grid on its website and mobile apps. Users can search for a specific recipe, like “mac and cheese,” filter recipes based on dietary needs (gluten free, vegan), or just browse the top recipes.
Pinterest Food & Drink Category
While Ta declined to disclose details of how Pinterest would accommodate Punchfork’s technology into its product, it is not hard to parse the possibilities. Beyond Punchfork’s Pinterest-inspired home page resides a platform that Pinterest has yet to fully build but others-including Meredith’s Allrecipes.com, Glam Media’s culinary social network Foodie and recipe-littered how-to app Snapguide-have begun to erect.
“We believe that a combined approach would benefit our users in the long run, and the Punchfork team will focus on contributing to Pinterest as the premier platform for discovering and sharing new recipes and other interests on the web,” wrote Punchfork CEO Miller in a blog post, adding that Punchfork’s site, mobile apps and developer tools will eventually shut down.
Since launching in January 2011, Punchfork has spent its time searching for the most-shared recipes online through a series of algorithms that cultivate recipes based on Facebook Likes, Pinterest Pins, Stumbleupon views, and tweets from food blogs and recipe sites. The Punchfork team has also been extremely active on Pinterest creating 26 food-related boards and several hundred recipe pins.
In fact, the service aims to direct users to top-rated recipes for a specific dish or a use for the leftover ingredients sitting in their fridge, and even allows filtering by diet preference.
“Our mission at Punchfork has been to assist home cooks discover new, high quality recipes and share them with family and friends,” Miller said. “It is a mission driven by a belief in the ability of web and mobile platforms to inspire our lives online – at home, in our communities, and for Punchfork, wherever meals are shared.”
However, the site will continue running initially, but will soon shut down, pulling support for apps that tap into Punchfork’s API, including DuckDuckGo, Pulse, Food Genius, and CookItForUs.
“Our sincerest thanks to our community members, friends, and everyone involved with Punchfork since its launch. See you on Pinterest!” Miller said.