If Upworthy launched a social network, this is what it would look like

If Upworthy and Pinterest merged, you’d get Ideapod.

Launching today in invite-only beta, Ideapod says it hopes to serve as a platform “for sharing, discovering, and taking action upon world-changing ideas.” It’s a social network for sharing Things That Matter.™

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As you may know, Upworthy’s virality originates within its obnoxious title formula. You’ll find clickable stories on the site such as “If This Video Makes You Uncomfortable, Then You Make Me Uncomfortable. On Ideapod, you’ll find posts like “This is not a call for wealth redistribution” and “Finally, we have the truth about unique benign human sexuality. But will that truth set us free?” Ideapod, in its defense, exhibits restraint with the famed curiosity gap — the gap of information that makes you click for more.

Ideapod’s Upworthy-meets-Pinterest mashup has one redeeming quality: not everyone’s invited.

The company told us it plans to be very particular about who it lets in, which — if executed correctly — could allow the network to develop a strong community of sincere users. If it’s able to do that, it could avoid the need for click-bait headlines entirely.