You would have noticed the new social login buttons here at MakeUseOf, and we’d like to explain what they are and why you might want to use them. We think you’re going to like this.
1. Why Should I Get MakeUseOf Account?
- You’ll be able to comment around the site without having to enter your email address every time, as well as get help from our wonderful Answers community for any computer problems you might be having. You’ll be automatically notified of responses to your question, and you’ll be able to mark them as resolved.
- Freely download MakeUseOf Guides and Cheat Sheets
- As you take various actions around the site, you’ll accumulate points (that can be used to get some really cool stuff) and gain in user ranks. More on that in a moment.
2. Getting A MakeUseOf Account
First off, it’s a one-click registration process by logging in with your social credentials – Facebook, Twitter, Google, Yahoo, or Microsoft Live. Just click one of the buttons and login to begin!
We are NOT able to post updates on your wall (or profile) unless you do it yourself using a clearly labelled share buttons on our articles. We do not like social spam anymore than you.
If you don’t see these buttons, please ensure you’re not running any Javascript blocking plugins such as NoScript, AdBlock, or Ghostery. We’ve also had user reports of issues with Avira firewall/antivirus.
Once logged in, that section of the sidebar will turn into a personal profile space, showing how many points you have, what rank you’ve achieved, and more.
3. Getting Points
You’ll get a few points just for registering, and more as you perform various actions on the MakeUseOf website.
Receiving Likes: You receive 1 point for every like your comment receives, up to a maximum of 50. If an author or editor likes you comment, they give 5 likes.
Answering Questions: Every Answer you give on the tech Q&A part of the site has the potential to earn up to 50 points. When users up vote your answer, you’ll receive up to 6 points depending on the level of the user voted for you. Level 1 in the Genius challenge enables you to start up voting Answers for 2 points; each subsequent level you gain (by providing good Answers) will further increase the weight of your up votes, by 1 additional vote each level. Additionally – if the question asker chooses your Answer as the Best Answer, you’ll receive a bounty of 10 points! Users of level 2 or higher can also down vote answers to hide inappropriate or wrong advice, but no points will be deducted if your comment is down voted.
Sharing Articles: Get 5 points for sharing MakeUseOf articles with friends on Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus and so on using the social sharing buttons on the pages.
Click-backs: Not only that, you’ll also get points for every friend who clicks on your shared link – it’s our way of thanking you for being so influential!
There is a daily limit on how many of each action you can get points for, so don’t try to overdo it or spam your friends. If you go over that limit, you won’t get any more points for that action until the next day.
4. Using Points To Get Premium Software & Enter Giveaways
As you accumulate points on the site you will be able to use them to redeem some of the best premium software available as well as participate in MUO Giveaways. All you need to do is head on over to the MakeUseOf Rewards page, and exchange some of your hard earned points for your choice of software.
It’s our way of saying thank you: thank you for sharing our articles with your friends and helping MakeUseOf grow; thank you for contributing your views and tips in the comments, or helping out a fellow user on our Answers technical support; thank you for not blocking ads to ensure we can continue to bring you great content for free; and thank you for deciding MakeUseOf is worthy of your time and attention.
We’ll be adding more software every month so you’ll always have something great to look forward to.
5. User Ranks & Badges
There are various badges to collect, some with up to 5 ranks each. You see your progress towards them all on your full profile page. (You need to be logged in to see your profile page)
The main rank shown (see first one in the pic above) in your profile is your MUO Geek Rank – and every action you take on the site will count towards your Geek Rank.
As you can see from the pic above there are some other badges available – specific challenges for commenting, answering questions, or sharing articles. We’ll be introducing some special new badges at various points, too.
As you perform more of the relevant actions, your points total will go up and your rank will increase. Oh and your rank won’t decrease when you spend those points – those are based upon your total number of points so far since joining.
There are leaderboards too of course. They show top users this week as well as all-time high scores. You can be famous!
Feedback, suggestions and ideas welcome. Are you already flying high on our leaderboard?
6. Conditions
Users agree to a few rules by participating in the rewards program.
- Exploits, attempted or successful, can result in account suspension and loss of all points.
- Only one copy of each reward can be redeemed per person. Attempts to circumvent this will be considered an exploit.
- Rewards come with no warranty or support through MakeUseOf. You can, however, contact us if you have trouble redeeming your points.
7. Does Your Company Want To Join Rewards?
We’re only able to offer our readers these rewards because of the cooperation we receive from our partners. We thank them through promotion on our Best Of pages, our social media channels and the main MakeUseOf site. If you’d like to become a partner please submit your information via our application form.