How to Use Mahalo Share

Guide Note

How to Use Mahalo Share walks you through using the Mahalo Share add-on for Firefox and Flock browsers. Now you can share interesting articles, breaking news, funny videos and more on up to 12 sites at once!

Plus, you get the added benefit of search results enhanced with Mahalo content and a nifty toolbar that allows you to search Mahalo from your browser.

Introduction
Mahalo Share Services
Step 1: Create an Account
Step 2: Have the Right Browser
Step 3: Install Mahalo Share
Step 4: Integrate Services
Step 5: Use Mahalo Share
Step 6: Enhance Your Results
Step 7: Enable the Toolbar
Resources

Introduction

(Screenshot by Mahalo)

Have you ever experienced the heartache of neglecting one or more of your online networks? You find a funny video and tweet about it, but you neglect to post it to Tumblr. You update your friends on Facebook about a breaking piece of news while leaving those on MySpace in the dark. Mahalo Share is an add-on for the Firefox and Flock web browsers that solves those issues. With Mahalo Share, you can post links to 12 services in one fell swoop!

Mahalo Share also gives you the option of enhancing your non-Mahalo search engine results with rich Mahalo content. Imagine searching Google and getting not just your standard issue search engine results, but a human-vetted list of the Top 7 links for that term from Mahalo, alongside an informative Guide Note.

Mahalo Share makes finding and sharing trustworthy information online fun, efficient and easy. So, let's get started.

Mahalo Share Services

Mahalo Share currently supports the following services:

Have a favorite service that isn't supported yet? Let us know!

Step 1: Create an Account

You'll need an account on Mahalo to use Mahalo Share.

On any Mahalo page, click on the Create Account link in the upper right corner.
Fill in the requested information:
1. Email Address: You must provide a valid email address in order to activate your account.
2. Username: Your username is how you'll be identified on Mahalo, so choose one you want others to see!
3. Password
Click on the Join Mahalo button.

(Screenshot by Mahalo)

Activate Your Account

One last step: you need to activate your account.

Check the email address you gave Mahalo for a confirmation email.
Click on the link in the email.
Your account in now activated.

Step 2: Make Sure You Have the Right Browser

Mahalo Share is an add-on for the Firefox browser. It also works on Flock, a browser that incorporates much of Mozilla Firefox's code. If you already use one of these browsers, please skip to the next step. If not, don't worry! Firefox and Flock work on both Mac and Windows machines, are free to download and easy to use.

Install Firefox

Go to Mozilla's homepage to download Firefox.
- You'll automatically be directed to the version of Firefox appropriate for your operating system.
Follow the instructions to install Firefox on your computer.

Install Flock

Go to Flock's homepage to download Flock.
Follow the instructions to install Flock on your computer.

Step 3: Install Mahalo Share

As long as you're using Firefox or Flock, it's easy to install Mahalo Share.

Go to the Mozilla page for the Mahalo Share add-on.
Click on Install Now.
- Even though it is a Firefox add-on, it will still work with Flock.
When prompted, click on Install Now in the Firefox window.
Restart your browser as prompted.

(Screenshot by Mahalo)

Step 4: Integrate Services with Mahalo Share

Now that you've added Mahalo Share to your browser, you're ready to incorporate any, or all, of the eleven other services Mahalo Share supports.

When your browser restarts, you'll see a window listing the services you can use.
Check off any of the accounts that you want to use, then click Continue.
Enter your username or email address, and your password, for the first account.
Click Continue; if the information is correct, you'll move on to the next account.
If you get an Error: Could not authenticate message, try re-entering the information and hitting Continue once more.
If one service won't authenticate (or you can't remember a password), press Skip this account and continue on.
- You can always enter in more accounts, or update your information, via your browser's Tools menu.
After you've entered information for all the accounts you selected, click Done.

(Screenshot by Mahalo)

Integrate Services Via Tools Menu

Whether you signed up for a new service after installing Mahalo Share, or you just couldn't remember all your passwords at first, don't worry. You can easily incorporate other accounts, or update your information, at any time.

In Firefox's Tools menu, select Add-ons.
An Add-ons window will open. Make sure Mahalo Share is highlighted (just click once on the words Mahalo Share if it isn't).
Click on Preferences.
Select a service from the drop down list.
Enter the information requested: either your username or the email address, and your password for the service.
Click Save login data.
If the information is correct, you'll get a message saying Authenticated successfully.
If you get an Error: Could not authenticate message, try re-entering the information and hitting Save login data once more.
Once you've entered, and authenticated, your user information on all the services you'd like to use, close the Preferences and Add-ons windows.

(Screenshot by Mahalo)

Using Mahalo Share on Multiple Computers

In the Preferences menu, there is checkbox which allows you to connect all of your social services to your Mahalo account. That way, as long as you're logged into Mahalo, you can use Mahalo Share from any computer without having to re-enter all of your log-in data for Twitter, del.icio.us, MySpace, etc.

(Screenshot by Mahalo)

Step 5: Use Mahalo Share

It's time to share! You can do so at anytime with the Mahalo Share icon that's now in your browser.

Make sure you're logged into Mahalo.
Find a great page online that you want to share with the world.
Click on the Mahalo Share icon.

(Screenshot by Mahalo)
Enter a search term your link is appropriate for.
- If you recommend a link for a page Mahalo doesn't yet have, you'll create a page on Mahalo for that term. Your short page (aka stub) will be visible to the world, with you as the creator.
Then "tag" the site with keywords. Use any words or phrases that best describe the site.
- The search term you chose will automatically appear as a tag, but feel free to change this if you prefer.
Next you have the option to write a few words about why you like the page you're submitting.
Make sure there's a check next to any, or all, of the other sites that you'd like to submit the link to.

(Screenshot by Mahalo)
To submit the page, you can click on Recommend link and stay here or Recommend link and go to Mahalo.
- Whichever you choose, your link will be submitted to Mahalo, and to any service with a checkmark next to it.

(Screenshot by Mahalo)

If You Don't See the Mahalo Share Icon

If you've customized your browser's toolbar, you may not see the Mahalo Share icon. Don't worry, just follow these steps:

Right click on your navigation toolbar.
Select Customize...
Find the Mahalo Share icon and drag it into your navigation toolbar.
Now you're ready to share cool stuff you find online across all your social services.

(Screenshot by Mahalo)

Step 6: Enhance Your Search Engine Results with Mahalo

In addition to sharing cool links across a variety of social services, Mahalo Share lets you integrate elements of Mahalo's pages, like its content-rich Guide Notes and carefully curated Top 7 links, into your standard search engine results.

(Screenshot by Mahalo)

You even have the option of viewing Mahalo's search results in a pop-up sidebar—giving you a side-by-side view of Mahalo's human-vetted results versus your regular search engine's.

(Screenshot by Mahalo)

To activate or adjust any of these options:

Click on your browser's Tools drop down menu.
Click on Add-ons.
Highlight the Mahalo Share add-on by clicking on it if it isn't highlighted already.
Click on the Preferences button.
You have four options in your Enhanced Search menu. Check or uncheck the following according to your preferences:
1. Auto-open the sidebar when there is an exact match for searches. (Default: OFF)
2. Show 'Approved by Mahalo' icons in other search engines' results. (Default: OFF)
3. Show Mahalo Guide Notes in other search engines' results. (Default: ON)
4. Show Mahalo Top 7 in other search engines' results. (Default: ON)
  
  (Screenshot by Mahalo)
Close the Preferences box.
Your search engine results will now be enhanced with Mahalo content.

(Screenshot by Mahalo)

Step 7: Enable the Mahalo Share Toolbar

In addition to enhancing your search results and enabling you to post cool online finds to 12 services at once, Mahalo Share also includes a toolbar to make searching and contributing links to Mahalo even easier. To add the toolbar to your browser:

Click on your browser's View drop down menu.
Hover over Toolbars.
Click on Mahalo Share Toolbar.

Mahalo Share Toolbar Options

Your Mahalo Share toolbar options from left to right are as follows:

Mahalo Search Box: Search for any term on Mahalo by entering it into your toolbar's search box and clicking on the magnifying glass icon.
Random Button: Click the Random button to be brought to a random Mahalo page, or click on a category in the Random drop down menu for a random page devoted to the subject that interests you most.
Directory: Select a category from the Directory drop down menu to find pages related to your interests.

(Screenshot by Mahalo)
Recommend this page? Share a link with Mahalo or any of your Mahalo Share services by clicking on Yes. If you think a page isn't up to Mahalo standards, click No or Maybe.

(Screenshot by Mahalo)
My Links: See the links you've recommended to Mahalo by clicking on the My Links drop down menu.
My Friends' Links: See the links your friends have recommended to Mahalo by clicking on the My Friends' Links drop down menu.