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Care2 Share FAQs

What is Care2 Share?

What is Care2 Share?

The easiest way to post and share stories, activist alerts, recipes, tributes, photos and more!

Why use Care2 Share?

Because you can make a difference — but only if you speak up, take action, and share your thoughts with the world. Sharing on Care2 can help you:

  • Reach the Movers and Shakers — the people with the power and influence to make things happen.
  • Reach people who share your interests.
  • Change a stranger's life through the power of words or images.
  • Get feedback on your ideas: Shares can be fantastic conversation starters so we've made it easy to post comments or start discussions about any share.
  • There's an unlimited number of reasons to share — give it a try!

What can I Share?

Almost anything. You can share ideas, rant about politics, rave about a local vegetarian restaurant, share wedding photos with your friends, write a newsletter to support a local homeless shelter, keep a personal journal... share whatever you want!

How do I share with my network?

Simply type in whatever you want to share, set the "visibility" level (this determines who can see your share) and we'll automatically distribute across the network.

Where can I find shares from my network?
You can find shares from others in your network by going to the My Share Network page. Just use the 'Show only' tools to select whose shares you want to view, or to filter by share type.

How do I get started?
It's easy to share. Start by sharing something simple — maybe post about a recent experience that made you feel good, or share your favorite poem or quote. It doesn't need to be profound — sharing brings people closer together, so have fun and share whatever you want. Click "Create a Share" or click on one of the share type links below to get started.


Creating Content on Care2 Share



How do I compose a new share?
 On the Compose Share page, select the type of "Share" you wish to compose. A "Share" is simply our term for any kind of content you wish to post or publish on Care2. If you just want to send a personal note to a friend or two, use our Personal Messaging service instead. You'll find it in the My Care2 tab.

Every "Share" is saved as its own webpage. In Step 2 you can set the "visibility" settings to control who can and cannot see your Share.

The types of shares you can compose are:

  • Blog / Journal — A "blog" (from "web log") is the term for an online journal. People blog about whatever is on their mind — their thoughts on politics, noteworthy things they've recently read about, what they ate for breakfast... it's your journal, so write whatever you want.

    Already blog? No problem, automatically import and publish it on Care2. See the My Sharebook Settings page for simple instructions on importing your blog into Care2 Share.

    Cool tip: Use our "Care2 Blog This!" bookmarklet to blog about things you see while surfing the web. This lets you link to pages you find interesting from your sharebook and allows you to pull selected text into your share from that page.
  • Activist Alert — Call people to action for a good cause with the Activist Alert Share type. Please only post alerts when you are sure that the cause is legitimate.
  • Photo Album — Use this type to share Care2 photo albums, photos from Care2 albums or photos on your hard drive. If you just want to share a photo you saw on another website you can use the "blog" or "Network Message" share types instead and simply drag the photo into the message you're composing.
  • Top Ten List — People love to see lists. Your list of favorite places in the world, Your list of scariest looking bugs. Be creative! Only have a list of 5 or 6 items you want to share? No problem, we don't require 10. Tip: you can spruce up your list by adding HTML.
  • Poll — It's easy to set up a poll. Polls are great conversation starters. You can add up to 10 questions and 20 response options per poll. There's no limit to the number of people who can respond.
  • Recipe — Share your favorite recipes.
  • Tribute — Honor those who have made a difference in you life. Create a tribute for someone who is living, or a memorial for those no longer with us. It's a simple yet meaningful way to show you care.
  • Network Message — If none of the above Share types seems like a good fit for what you want to share, then send it as a Network Message. Poems, quotes, stories, newsletters, and other items you think your network will find of interest all make great Network Messages. For great results, please use your best judgment and only share high quality items!

How do I add a theme to my share?
You can set the default theme for shares you create in the My Sharebook Settings page, or select a specific theme for each share on the Compose Share page.

How do I use the features of the text editor?
 The editor for composing shares makes it quick and easy to add HTML into your shares. Use the font dropdowns to change font type or size. The B, I, and U icons allow you to make your text bold, italic, or underlined. The and icons allow you to change the text and background colors. You can create hotlinks using the icon, or add images with the icon. Use the icon to add Care2 Emoticons into your share.

How do I make changes to a share that I created?
Once you have created a share, you can go to the full share view page, and click on the 'Edit' button to make changes to your share.

Can I import my blog into Care2 Share?
 If you blog elsewhere, you can easily import entries from that blog into Care2 Share. To do so, go to the My Sharebook Settings page and enter the RSS feed for your blog into the field provided. Each entry you make into your blog will automatically be added as a new blog share in your Care2 Sharebook.

RSS 101
 If you would like to import another persons' blog into your group, click on the RSS logo at the top their share and copy the URL of the window that opens. Then go to your group and paste the URL into the RSS Reader. Find out more

How do I choose who can view my share?
 When composing or editing your share, use the 'Visibility' field to determine who can see the share. The visibility options are:
  • Public- Everyone can view the share (not necessary to be logged in to view)
  • Private - Only author can view share
  • Friends - Only friends of the author can view share
  • Friends Network - Only friends and friends of friends of the author can view share

Tagging my Shares

What are tags? — A tag is a label or keyword that helps classify, or categorize something (in this case your blog entry, poll, or whatever you're sharing). Thus, a poem about a tree might be tagged with the word 'tree' or a blog entry about some deer you saw might be tagged "deer" and/or "wildlife". Why tag my shares?
  • Tags are fun amazing connections and relationships appear when thousands of people independently tag things. Youll see connections you never realized existed.
  • Tagging is fun get a group of people to tag their Shares with an unusual tag (such as Flower Power) and watch the fun unfold!
  • Tags are useful want to see all your Share entries of your darling pooch Josephine? Tag them all with the word Josephine and youll be able to see them all at once.
  • Tags build connections between people — unlike traditional set category lists or keyword search, tags uniquely link content and people because the word(s) chosen for the tags reflect personal opinions about what one or two words are most important for the photos (try it out youll see what we mean)
What makes a good tag? The first rule, of course, is that there are no rules. Most people apply tags that help themselves and others find their content later. Here are some tips:
  • Think of tags as both personal and social. Tags will be used for you, but can also be used by the entire community to explore your Shares (if your Shares are publicly viewable).
  • Use plurals to define categories. When appropriate, instead of car or tree, use cars and trees.
  • Think specific as well as general in creating tags. Specific tags may make sense to the owner of the Share, but broader, more generic tags may help others find it.
  • Use synonyms. Not everyone will relate, or know, the word you are using for a tag, so it helps to create a few options that mean the same thing.
  • Use others' ideas. While exploring tags, you might find tags that represent your Shares that you had not thought of. Add them to your Shares, and expand where you Shares can be seen!
How do I change the settings for who can add comments or tags to my share?
When composing or editing your share, click on the 'Advanced Settings' link to change who add tags or comments to your share. You can select default settings for these fields on the My Sharebook Settings page.

 Share Central
You can get to the Share Central page by clicking on the 'Share' tab from anywhere within Care2. Share Central is a place where you can see what shares are being spotlighted, create new shares, see who is creating shares today, and search the Sharebook Directory to find other peoples sharebooks.

My Share Network
Your Friends, and Friends of Friends, are all part of your share network. Here you'll automatically receive new shares posted by members of your network. You can think of it as a magically updating scrapbook or newsletter from your friends. You can get to this page by clicking on the 'My Share Network' link while on the 'Share' tab. You can filter what shares you see on this page by source (friends, friends network) or share type, and by tags.

My Sharebook
Your sharebook is a collection of all shares that you have created on Care2 Share. Depending on the visibility settings on your shares, your sharebook may not show all shares to everyone viewing your Sharebook. You can use the My Sharebook Settings page to create a title and description for your Sharebook, as well as to choose the theme you want for your sharebook. Your Sharebook will list your shares in reverse chronological order (the most recent appearing first), and you can filter by share type and tags.

Share detail pages
This is the full size view of an individual share. You will see all components of the share, and this is the page on which you can answer polls, for instance. In addition, this page will give you a few examples of other shares by that author, and by others in the author's network.

Care2 Share Options and Settings

The Care2Share options and settings can be found by clikcing on the 'Sharebook Settings' link, while in the 'Share' tab. How can I customize my Sharebook?
Under the Sharebook Basics section, you can add a title to your Sharebook, as well as add a description and choose a default language.

How do I set a default theme for all my shares?
While in the Sharebook settings, you can choose a theme in the 'Theme:' dropdown menu under the Sharebook Basics. Remeber to hit the 'Save' button at the bottom of the page after you have made your choice.

How do import my external Blog into my Sharebook?
If you already blog (i.e. write a "weblog") elsewhere, you can easily publish your blog on Care2 as well. Most blogs have an RSS or XML feed. Simply copy and paste your blog's RSS or XML feed URL into the 'Blog RSS Feed to Import:' field, under the 'Import Your Blog' section on the Sharebook Settings page and hit the save button. Our system will periodically throughout the day pull in any updates and display them in your sharebook and across your Care2 network.

DO NOT import a blog or feed for which you are not the author. If you would like to see a feed displayed on Care2 for which you are not the author, there is a feature on Care2 groups that allows hosts to display 3rd party feeds.

You can also choose tags that will be applied to the External Blog, each time it is imported, by adding tags to the 'Tags to apply to imported feed:' field in this section and hit the save button.

How can I make shares private?
In the Sharebook Settings page, under the 'Share Default Permissions' section, you can set what the privacy settings for your shares will be, by default. You can change these permission while composing or editing an individual share if you would like a different set of permissions for that share.

The visibility options are:
  • Public- Everyone can view the share (not necessary to be logged in to view)
  • Private - Only author can view share
  • Friends - Only friends of the author can view share
  • Friends Network - Only friends and friends of friends of the author can view share

You can choose what the default permissions are for seeing the share (Visibility), as well as adding comments or tags to your shares (Tags).

How do I keep my shares from being available as RSS feeds?
By default, members can click on a RSS button to get a RSS feed of your public shares. If you would like to disable this option, un-check the 'Enable publication of my shares via RSS.' checkbox under the 'Publish Your Shares' section, and hit the save button. Please note that shares with a visibility of 'Friends' or 'Friends of Friends' are not available via RSS feeds.

How do I customize the shares I see on My C2C and My Share Network pages?
By default, you will see all share types for your friends and friends network while viewing the My C2C and My Share Network pages. You may change both the network size and the types of shares that you wish to see by clicking on the "Change filter" link on the My Share Network page. This will give you access to a form where you can specify whose shares you want to view (only your own shares, your friends shares or your friends network) and the specific types of shares that you want to view. You can click the "Save as default" button to save your choices as your default view so whenever you come to the My C2C or My Share Network pages, you will see only the content you have chosen to view. If you want to change the shares that you are viewing temporarily, make the changes you want to the form and click the "Change view" button. This will reload the page and display the shares that match the new settings that you just entered. To revert back to your default search, click the "Use default" button or to close the form without making any changes, simply press the "Cancel" button.

Care2 Share Group Integration — Share with your Group

Care2 share allows add a share to the groups you host, and the groups you are a member of
How do I start a discussion about a share in my group? When you click on a share, and are taken to the full share view page, there is a section called: 'Group Discussions'. Click on the 'start a discussion' link, choose which group you would like to share with, and then hit the 'Create' button. You will be taken to a New Topic creation page for the group, with the share information already loaded. You can add more comments as you wish, and submit the post, as you normally would. This will create a new thread in the group about the share you chose! The 'Group Discussions' section on each share will display all the groups currently discussing that share.

How can I add my share to a group sharebook? You can add a share, to your group's Member Sharebook (located on the group's homepage) by tagging the share with your group's unique tag. The tag can be found in the Group Sharebook, on the Group Homepage.

How can I add my share to a group host sharebook? If you are a host of a group, you can add a share to the Host's Sharebook (located on the group's homepage) by tagging the share with your group's unique host tag. The tag can be found in the Host Sharebook, on the Group Homepage. Remember, only hosts of a group can add Host Sharebook tags.

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