Twitter has come to the forefront for journalist's and for many it is their first point of call at the beginning of their days. Other social networks have also been praised for aiding journalistic work but what about Pinterest? Many news companies will create boards on Pinterest that highlight relatable images to content they have recently published. It also helps to direct more traffic to the online article as the images can be linked with the appropriate URL's. Some of the most popular topic to write and pin about are food, fashion and weddings. However, what about mental health?

By Pinterest (http://pinterest.com/about/goodies/) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

As of September it was reported that Pinterest has 100 million active users with 176 million signed up. Like Tumblr Pinterest now has a community of users dedicating their time and pins to discuss mental health. A recently published study in the Public Relations Review Journal titled, 'Portrayals of depression on Pinterest and why public relation practitioners should care', analysed hundreds of images pinned that used mental health key words.

They found that one in ten of the images mentioned suicide or suicidal thoughts, 7% mentioned self-harm and any actually helpful advice about coping with these feelings was widely scarce. Pinterest has become a platform for users to openly discuss their feelings, like Tumblr has been known to do so previously. But what difference does this make to mental health journalism?

It gives news the chance to reach out to this community, by creatively transferring published content onto Pinterest news reporters are able to share their content with a targeted community who will benefit from reading it. As well as being able to spread the word and messages of their writing further. Users are also able to comment on images and a discussion can easily be sparked.

The study also found that there was a strong air of negativity about the coping mechanisms people were using to combat their mental health, that dysfunctional coping methods were often pinned and discussed and there was little support that was proactive and positive. Perhaps the news can play an important role in spreading more positivity by producing and pinning positive and optimistic content relating to mental health such as ground breaking research reports, NHS services becoming available in 2016 and local charities to support those suffering. Maybe a journalist's role can be beneficial with the aid of Pinterest.

It is important to study, report and understand how social media plays a role in mental health to improve change and to see honest and truthful accounts, as difficult and 'taboo' such subjects might be. The strength of feelings expressed by people is an aspect missing in hard news reporting and once again social media provides a realistic account. Perhaps Pinterest is a platform that mental health experts can reach out to those suffering and help to #ChangeTheConversation.