CookShares FAQ

Question: What exactly IS CookShares?
CookShares is "social media simplified". In other words, it is a social media site that gets back to the basics: sharing useful information with people you actually know.

Question: What happened to Social Media and how did it get so bad?
In a word: "hypertargeting". This is a process by which the giant social media platforms gather as much information as they can about every user so that they can "hypertarget" their in-house ad programs. The more they know about you, the more they can sell that to their advertisers. It has its merits, but has gone way, way too far. CookShares is comfortable with using Amazon links and standard and safe ad networks like Google Ads.

Question: Ok, But what are the main features of CookShares?
To start, just like many of the major social media platforms there is a main page that we call "Shares". The basic "shares" are general comments, videos, links, or photos. There is even a tool to share anything interesting that you might have found on Amazon. CookShares also features sections for Idea Boards, Projects, and Recipes.

Question: So is CookShares primarily a Recipes site?
CookShares is a full feature Social Media site. However, the Recipe section has taken off as the favorite of many of our early-adopters. We have assumed that this is because most recipe sites are loaded with the clutter of intrusive ads, pop-up "opt-ins" and have many features that just make the process of saving and storing recipes a pain.

Question: How is the main "Shares" page different than normal social media "walls" or "boards"?
Well, we didn't design CookShares to be different just to be different. This is really reflected in how the "Shares" page developed. It is fairly well understood that social media has gotten out of hand with conversations that don't matter and people you don't know. CookShares's "Shares" page is set to copy how we communicate in life. "Shares" each have a life of their own. They could be a comment, a photo, a link, a video, or a recipe. Every post has comments, which can take on a life of their own!

Question: Can I help, as a user, to make CookShares better?
We are counting on it! At the bottom right of every page is a link for "Suggestions / Bug Report". If you have an idea on how to make it better, or find a bug, we hope you will share it with us!

Question: Is CookShares free or is their some hidden catch?
Free. No catches. The revenue to "keep the servers on" comes from two sources: Amazon suggestions that make links, and carefully placed ads.

Question: When and If are there going to be mobile friendly and mobile apps for CookShares?
CookShares is fairly mobile friendly at the moment, but both a fully mobile version and mobile apps for Android and Apple coming very soon.

Question: Are any of the features of CookShares Public?
Nothing in CookShares is public by default. We currently have a feature where you can make an extra click to make a Recipe public, and it then becomes visible to search engines.

Question: Is everything you create in CookShares shared with everyone in your network?
This question brings up a key part of CookShares - any of the special sections- Projects, Idea Boards or Recipes, can be saved privately just for you to see, or you can share in your network. Moreover, we provide a "Groupings" feature for sharing. With Groupings, you can create an unlimited amount of clusters of friends and family, give that Grouping a name, and can choose to share things just with them.

Question: Going back to Recipes, are there more features there than just typing in a recipe?
A recipe can be a standard step by step process that you record like with many other recipe sites, but there are more features than that. You can simply scan a recipe and save it with a name and details. You can share a link or a video as a recipe and add more details. You can also view any of these that were created by others and put them in your "Collections".

Question: Is CookShares a public traded company and where is it headquartered?
CookShares is a private company, located in the Midwest of the USA.