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Unveiling the Closure of Google's Project X: Insights into its Demise

Launched in 2020, Google’s Pinterest competitor Keen ends on March 24, 2024. We know many of you have invested time in Keen. To avoid losing this effort, we’ve created a tool to download your Keen data into a local zip file that is, the links you've curated, the images you've uploaded, and the text posts you have.

Google’s Keen project, which began in mid-2020 under the Google Area 120 project, will shut down this month. Marketing itself as a potential contender for Pinterest, Keen allowed users to browse a collection of topics such as gardening or baking. The platform used gesture integration with machine learning algorithms including Google search to identify and recommend relevant products to users.

In an announcement, Google expressed its gratitude to users for participating in Keen's journey, highlighting the platform's experimental nature and its role in innovation suggestion systems. On March 24, 2024, however, the Keen website and app will shut down completely. All user data including posts, uploads, likes, follows and comments will be deleted.

To reduce user data loss, Google has developed a tool that allows users to download their Keen data to a local zip file. This includes saved links owned by the user, uploaded images, and posts.

  • Users who want to download their Keen data can follow these steps:
  • Visit staykeen.com/download
  • Select Keens and drag
  • Go to the next step to check the selected Keens before downloading
  • Finally, select "Download data" to start the download process.

Despite its potential, Keen struggled to gain user acceptance. However, for those who have invested time in the platform, Google’s data-pulling tool aims to ensure that users’ efforts aren’t lost in a passive process.

Conclusion: Google is poised to rethink its approach to innovation, using insights from this experience to inform future services. While the closure of Project X may mark the end of a chapter, it is also a poignant reminder of the risks and challenges of pushing the limits of technological progress.