15 July 2009

Entrecard: Going, Going, Gone?

I have noticed lately that many people are dropping out of Entrecard (EC). There have been many changes at EC, and none of them good for the long-term users.

First, there were paid ads on our widgets. The paid ads for which we were not paid, nor did clickers on our widget earn credits. It seems the only paying to be done was to the admin of Entrecard. This did not go over well with anyone. An army of EC users started blogrolls, specifically containing blogs that do not allow paid ads.

Then there was the infamous cash out system. You were invited to apply to sell your credits back to Entrecard for a pittance. There was a tax on purchases and sales of credits. If you did not fill out every bit of information, you would find out weeks later. I was paid after a month and a half.

Next, members were to help by earning EC credits by filling out offers, surveys, sample requests and other dreck they found for us to do. There was talk of an algorithm that would take into account our contribution to Entrecard, the community and other items. No one, including admin, could explain this, so they dropped it.

Finally, we reach the next step in the evolution of Entrecard. A system is being developed as a countermeasure for the bounce rate. When you are frantically dropping Entrecards for several blogs and trying to hit the maximum of number of drops per blog, reading and commenting on blogs goes out the window.

Perhaps Entrecard will develop a business plan. One that takes all the pros and cons of Entrecard, implements a sustainable model and allows the system to continue. It is a shame that a wonderful program was launched without a plan and has survived on at the winds of fate for a couple of years.

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