Pinterest targets British users by showing more UK-based search results and suggestions on its site

Pinterest is tweaking its photo-sharing network for users in the UK with some additional features to encourage people to upload more content and engage with other people.

To begin with, Pinners based in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will be suggested a larger number of pins and accounts created by other users in the same region. It seems a bit of an odd choice, given that Pinterest is a global site and isn’t really affected by users’ location, but presumably it’s been changed to help people find other users with similar interests or tastes.

A company spokesperson told TNW that when a user registers for a new account in the UK, they’ll be immediately shown other Pinners from the same region. All search results submitted through the service will also feature an increased amount of pins and boards created by users in the UK.

To cap off the rather Britannia-focused changes, Pinterest will also be adding support for an additional language across the site – British English. It’s not like the service was ever undecipherable to Brits but nevertheless, seeing ‘colour’ rather than ‘color’ from time-to-time could be a welcome, albeit small change.

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“We’re hoping this will lead to more British Pinners discovering things they love on Pinterest,” a company spokesperson said.

Pinterest realizes that some of these changes will go unnoticed without some endorsement or exposure from popular Pinners. The company is therefore revitalizing a community event conceived in the US back in May 2010, called Pin It Forward, to drive new sign-ups and engagement with the service.

The campaign will ask 300 bloggers from across the UK to post on the Pinterest blog about their individual hobbies and interests, as well as why they choose to express or share it on Pinterest. Pin It Forward UK should last about a month and have at least 10 people contributing each day.

“Pinterest’s mission is to help people discover what they love and inspire them to do those things in their life,” a company spokesperson added. “To accomplish this goal for British Pinners, the Pinterest team has found that it needs to create a unique experience for the UK.”

The changes announced today are being described as the “first step” in a larger strategy to target Pinners based specifically in the UK. It’s an interesting strategy for sure, but one that feels a little contrived right now.