Since it’s Valentine’s Day, I should be spouting my love of Pinterest, but really I’m hope you get a little ugly for your cause.

I have a serious love/hate relationship with Pinterest. I love the visual, quirky way to share ideas. I hate the weird, hoarding tendencies of fantasy world living users (myself included).

For those who don’t know about Pinterest yet, it’s a visual bookmarking site. You need to create an account to Like an image or Repin it – add an image from someone else’s board to your own. Spend some time on the site and you’ll get the hang of it. Check out my boards for ideas on how to organize your pins.

I love the collaboration opportunities. I love the visual medium to promote a nonprofit. I love pinning geeky stuff into my own world of nerdery.

I also have serious social concerns with the fantasy allure. Social media users are often criticized of only sharing the best things in our lives, Pinterest is this perfect world on steroids. From way too airbrushed fitness photos to highly-styled “just a little messy” up-dos, it’s easy to get a little depressed about your real life. But, if this escapism helps America feel just a little bit happy and hoard a few wish list items for a more economically stable future, so be it!

Don’t Be a Junk Lady

Pinterest brings out the hoarder in us all. I have a weird desire to repin all things wonderful and useful. I feel like the Junk Lady in Labyrinth. I’m packing on all these boards with all these things I might need someday. “What’s the matter, my dear, don’t you like your toys?” Am I really going to look at those old pins? Who knows! I think it’s about mindful curation. Now, I just need to take my own advice.

Pinterest doesn’t have a private function yet – not for profiles or for boards. Be careful not to share private information and know that people you don’t know will be liking and repining your content. We have a Pinterest board that was intended as a brainstorming board with a potential client and it now has over 150 followers. We kept the description vague, but there are many people curating that information..for free.

Holy cow, it’s a time suck. I can’t spend less than 30 minutes on the platform. I am lulled by the endless scroll of beautiful images, girl who have more time/talent than I do with their hair/makeup/fashion/lives, and perfect moms to make adorable, healthy meals for their perfect children.

Please “Like” before you “Repin.” I always Like an image before I Repin it. It feels weird to curate something without leaving a little “thank you” behind!

Don’t be Afraid to be Ugly

Pinterest is a beautiful place where women dream about their fantasy wedding and men pin art by people with dreams streaming out their paintbrushes. Don’t be afraid to ugly it up a bit for a cause. The world isn’t beautiful all the time. There are amazing nonprofits fighting to bring more beauty to the world by solving very ugly realities. Inspire your followers to donate, volunteer and make a difference.

I started a board just for this purpose. My “Random Dose of Reality – The Anti-Pinterest” board is my answer to this. I post images with a cause and a message. I try to pin disturbing or thought-provoking images to stand out amongst the beauty. I’ve worked my entire career to reshape negative messages into positive ones, so this ugly for a cause is hard some days. I often slip and pin some pretty stuff, too.

My first post on this board was a crazy insight into the Pinterest community. I posted a photo of a child’s with an outbreak of measles and the caption “Measles is back, and it’s because your kids aren’t vaccinated.” It got 7 Likes, 6 repins and 19 comments. 19 comments!

Some of the comments were grumbles about advocacy on Pinterest. Then the comments turned vicious, detailed and long. I stumbled upon an anti-vaccine landmine. Then the pro-vaccine comments came in – equally brave, detailed and long. This all happened within 45 minutes of posting. Click on the image to read all the comments.

The lesson? People want to interact on this platform. Give them something to talk about.

Now, go forth and pin to your heart’s content. Just don’t turn into a Junk Lady and curate with a purpose!