How To Be a Real Smart Carder - Clean Up and Use That "Friends Feed"

Lets Finally Get Over the Temptation.. and Become SmartCarders

Some favorites of the author

today we offer our weekly PSA in a post to help you get more use out of your Entrecard.

This is our All Powerful Friends Feed. you get in in the Newsfeeds Tab on your dashboard.

http://entrecard.com/feeds/news/TG2KYY929M/rss2.0


Going Here Means basically You take your time and look at the posts.
no toolbar and no bs - just the posts that have been Recently Updated, VOILA ! 


We read on a certain blog recently in the comments that if we
didn't bitch we'd have nothing to say. wow - powerful words indeed.

But we're not Thirsty, or Hongry. we're phat enough that we
don't need to go Buyin Hits and PR; Begging for comments 
or drops; let alone Donations.   so what we planned for our response
post is this - A PSA On Being a SmartCarder

Lets Learn How To Use Entrecard Like SmartCarders.
Uh Huh - that's not bitching or complaining - or pointing
the finger at anyone else, as we've been accused of doing.

First off the reason you want to consider this approach is
"Entrecard is supposed to be a Bloggers Social Network" - Not A Job.

Uh Huh - sorry we can't help but toss stones at them thirsty teams out there; who boast such high drop figures daily, but rarely make a Real substantive post. Sorry but IN My Opinion - posting pics of your kid,
your house and your car are not only dangerous, but outright asking for trouble. 

Recently those of us who read, saw the headlines about the break-ins that happened because folks twitted about being away from home. Please, think about your personal security and the crime rate; if not how many fools are out there waiting to kidnap your adorable blogging star subject. common sense ain't common, mom always said. today we are seconding that as fact.

Sorry - but there should be a link that connects when a blog appears in front of you - if you see politics, or
adult subject matter, that's not your thing ? why not move on -

We Are Here for The Reality of Politics and Entertainment. 

many of these blogs are serial droppers (clickfiends).
We've learned from watching them come up in our Inbox Day
After Day. We've stopped JUST dropping back on them;
but they still continue to drop on us for some reason...

Here's An Open Question to the Click Fiends -  
(you know who you are)

Why is One EC So Important when there is obviously nothing of interest to you here ? my bouncerate is the real issue to me, but not to you. hmph...  

please read this clickfiends, and those who want to make
themselves contributors to our daily gift ec pot -
"We see it as a gift, And We Say A "Hearty Thanks" for supporting our entrecard advertising fundage.

fyi - you too may have an EC Gift Pot - it works like this, if you get drops that you do not return, they are still counted remember. the dropper gets a point and the droppee gets a point. Niiiiccceee..

Ahhhhh That Dirty Inbox and Temptress Toolbar..

yeah. those are the two real culprits. If you want to have a better focus on
who you really visit on Entrecard, take a trip to your own profile.

Being Good Carders - We went to the Entrecard book last nite to see if there was a page on it; Only to be shown NO Entrebook ANYLONGER.   uhhhh yeah..click and see for yourself.

So we decided that the easiest route is to go to Your Blogs Profile Page. Just click on the Entrecard E on your widget on your page. 

It will Instantly Transport You to Your Profile page.

on that page is the most important tool you have access to - 
Your Favorites.

Your Favorites are hand selected by you; as you are dropping.
First thing you should do is to take a look at how many Favorites
you have saved over your months on Entrecard. count them.

Early this morning I went through mine, and was totally amazed at the blogs
that I like and favorited. some of them, I've visited once or twice - and I've
never seen them again. could there be some housekeeping needed ? oh yes indeed..

First I clicked the link at the end of my favorites column 

I was magically transported to the page which shows my Favorite Carders.
a huge list of approximately 400 cards opened. yes 400 - far too many to viist regularly.

upon closer inspection, I found that many of them were removed from entrecard
or even dead. I also noticed many marked clearly no widget; or ads disabled.
Our sister blog Recycled Frockery disabled ads for a few months during our redesign

deliberations; only to finally return and take ads again a few weeks ago.

the blogs which I wanted to take a peek at that - were mostly blogs that
I hadn't seen in a long time.  I clicked on the cards and loaded them in multiple tabs; exactly as the tool bar would. -
This is done by using the control key while I clicked the card.

As they loaded I got to see their profiles and to see our relationship played out..

many had no feed - so hence no blog

If i liked it, I clicked the url to visit to verify if the blog
was a keeper or a tosser. when the blog loaded I could
almost make an immediate decision. many were dead,
moved or just so old that there was no point in keeping
them on my favs any longer. I clicked that remove from favs
link on their profile page, instantly removing the card and the
feed from my friends list - poof. easy instant housekeeping.

How Did It Feel - Ooooohhhhhh let me tell you..

many of the blogs I visited this morning actually were just no widget,
but still great blogs. some of them like Junk Drawer were still listed - even without a widget. I let them stay because they are locked into that feed;
and I can still read them, regardless of if they are Active in Entrecard
or Have A Widget - get it now ?

the blogs who have no widget, may have left entrecard,
but their feeds are still available to me on my friends feed.
that makes it oh so great.

so I did the housekeeping judiciously - removing dead blogs,
and others that I know I have no real interest in. somehow I
felt bad removing some which still drop on me; even though I rarely drop back.

that's the beauty of this housekeeping. you make the choices based on what you want.

Keep that friends feed clean. use it to drop from, instead of that volitile clickfarm called the Inbox.

we're stepping back into our respectable position of avoiding the Inbox Totally.

we're going to keep our friends feed as our primary point of drop origin;
knowing that we're keeping it clean and useful. that's what we need entrecard
to do for us. keep it clean and useful.

this is our PSA for the Week of August 5-12th, 2009.

Please feel free to post comments, and to discuss the methods I've outlined
to help keep dropping interesting; and be a smart carder.
this post was inspired by a question asked by My Friend Cher on AskCherlock.

Hope You All Put This To Good Use and Start Enjoying Being a Smart(entre)Carder Again,

Cheers,

Can Each One Reach One - We Think So

“Guilt has never been part of it,” he said. “It’s excitement instead, presenting people with an opportunity — ‘you have an amazing chance to build a well!’ ”

We Think this guy is one of the smartest guys in the world. Scott Harrison took his place in history and our hearts when he gave his heart to Clean Water. We've written many pieces on water and fundamental rights of humans to clean water; but this guy gave it his all, by dashing his millionaires life to become a photog for a charity who focuses on Children, and of course Water.

All of us could do more to help, and we can all certainly help by spreading the word.

We're suggesting our blogging buddies make themselves a part of the effort. Do One Day a Week of Public Service Blogging and Feel the Rewards Instantly. Each One Reach One; and Each One Can Teach One.

Use Your Power Bloggers - Lets Save The Children,

Clean, Sexy Water

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

People always ask: What can I do to make a difference?

So many people in poor countries desperately need assistance. So many people in rich countries would like to help but fear their donations would line the pocket of a corrupt official or be lost in an aid bureaucracy. The result is a short circuit, leaving both sides unfulfilled.

That’s where Scott Harrison comes in.

Five years ago, Mr. Harrison was a nightclub promoter in Manhattan who spent his nights surrounded by friends in a blur of alcohol, cocaine and marijuana. He lived in a luxurious apartment and drove a BMW — but then on a vacation in South America he underwent a spiritual crisis.

“I realized I was the most selfish, sycophantic and miserable human being,” he recalled. “I was the worst person I knew.”

Mr. Harrison, now 33, found an aid organization that would accept him as a volunteer photographer — if he paid $500 a month to cover expenses. And so he did. The organization was Mercy Ships, a Christian aid group that performs surgeries in poor countries with volunteer doctors.

“The first person I photographed was a 14-year-old boy named Alfred, choking on a four-pound benign tumor in his mouth, filling up his whole mouth,” Mr. Harrison recalled. “He was suffocating on his own face. I just went into the corner and sobbed.”

A few weeks later, Mr. Harrison took Alfred — with the tumor now removed — back to his village in the West African country of Benin. “I saw everybody celebrating, because a few doctors had given up their vacation time,” he said.

Mercy Ships transformed Mr. Harrison as much as it did Alfred. Mr. Harrison returned to New York two years later with a plan: he would form a charity to provide clean water to save lives in poor countries. But by then, he was broke and sleeping on a friend’s couch.

Armed with nothing but a natural gift for promotion, and for wheedling donations from people, Mr. Harrison started his group, called charity: water — and it has been stunningly successful. In three years, he says, his group has raised $10 million (most of that last year alone) from 50,000 individual donors, providing clean water to nearly one million people in Africa and Asia.

The organization now has 11 full-time employees, almost twice as many unpaid interns, and more than half a million followers on Twitter (the United Nations has 3,000). New York City buses were plastered with free banners promoting his message, and Saks Fifth Avenue gave up its store windows to spread Mr. Harrison’s gospel about the need for clean water in Africa. American schools are signing up to raise money to build wells for schools in poor countries.

“Scott is an important marketing machine, lifting one of the most critical issues of our time in a way that is sexy and incredibly compelling — that’s his gift,” said Jacqueline Novogratz, head of the Acumen Fund, which invests in poor countries to overcome poverty.

Mr. Harrison doesn’t actually do the tough aid work in the field. He partners with humanitarian organizations and pays them to dig wells. In effect, he’s a fund-raiser and marketer — but that’s often the most difficult piece of the aid puzzle.

So what’s his secret? Mr. Harrison’s success seems to depend on three precepts:

• First, ensure that every penny from new donors will go to projects in the field. He accomplishes this by cajoling his 500 most committed donors to cover all administrative costs.

• Second, show donors the specific impact of their contributions. Mr. Harrison grants naming rights to wells. He posts photos and G.P.S. coordinates so donors can look up their wells on Google Earth. And in September, Mr. Harrison is going to roll out a new Web site that will match even the smallest donation to a particular project that can be tracked online.

• Third, leap into new media and social networks. This spring, charity: water raised $250,000 through a “Twestival” — a series of meetings among followers on Twitter. Last year, it raised $965,000 by asking people with September birthdays to forgo presents and instead solicit cash to build wells in Ethiopia. The campaign went viral on the Web, partly because Mr. Harrison invests in clever, often sassy videos.

One popular video (Posted at the top of this blog post ) shows well-heeled Manhattanites stepping out of their luxury buildings and lining up to fill jerrycans with dirty water from a lake in Central Park. We watch a mother offer the murky water to her small children — and the upbeat message is: you can help ensure that other people don’t have do that, either.

Mr. Harrison’s underlying idea is that giving should be joyous, an infectious pleasure at the capacity to bring about change.

“Guilt has never been part of it,” he said. “It’s excitement instead, presenting people with an opportunity — ‘you have an amazing chance to build a well!’ ”