CDBurns

I've been compiling articles for a while, so that when people get to the site there is a wealth of info to keep them there. I'm only using Amazon Associates but I've gotten 100 dollar checks (minus that 15 dollar fee... gotta get my direct deposit game right, lol). Writing the reviews and placing the Amazon Ad on the review has led to a lot of people getting the film through the link. It's a great idea. I deleted my author's page this morning. It takes 14 days for it to expire, but I'm not turning back on that. I may consider taking my sneaker site down and using Google to drive traffic and create something to guide traffic there. God knows it hasn't resulted in any Kickstarter pledges and therefore is worthless. This company Three over Seven didn't even have a Facebook page or website and sold 1000 pair of shoes in 5 days due to good old fashion networking and media coverage. Unfortunately my running shoe company can't even get an article locally, go figure; but Facebook isn't helping at all. As far as keeping up with friends it's okay, but even that is lacking somewhat. I've known this for a while and I have statistics to support it on my sneaker blog. You should read those marketing reports: www.arch-usa.com/blog Branded is a corny movie, but the message is in line with everything we are discussing here. EVERYTHING

I'm posting daily to my author's page on Facebook and not explaining why I'm moving away. I probably need to explain it and continue doing what I'm doing. I think explaining it in a short, concise manner using the same words and asking other writers to do the same would be a start. If you come up with a short, concise message that people can share so we can be uniform then I'm down since I'm already in the process of moving anyway. Here is the link to the buddypress. It looks like Google+ with me just writing on there alone, but you will get the idea when you see it. I've created two groups: http://www.cbpublish.com/groups/ a social club and business club. I can create a Writer's Block or however many groups I like, but I have to get people to the page. I'm realizing I have to directly tag people to get a response or people will act like they didn't see it. I agree that people won't leave. They will stay and talk to friends, but in regard to business I have yet to see it result in any real increase in business for me on either the sneaker or book side.

I say don't focus on the big names for a writer's network. Smaller names will generate their own traffic and build their online publishing resume and then they can capitalize on others visiting from other writers. I definitely think the Huffpost/Examiner model is the only way we can counter all of the damage being done. The more we say, 'you can't earn ad revenue from your site because Facebook is killing you' maybe people will hear us. Let me know what to do on my end and I'm doing it. I have already started the transition away from Facebook for my author's page. At the end of February, it will be removed. I created the social network/buddy press on my site and while no one is responding, I will keep chipping away and eventually someone will respond. I know that people will not leave Facebook so I'm trying to figure out my way around it. I guess that's our only option.

Troy, I understand what you're saying, but it's not foolish to think that a person in the public eye should expect this treatment. It is simply the reality that we live in. Does this mean I don't understand what is happening? I know more than most how the net works in regard to search/SEO and placement. I've run two distinctly different companies that encountered how thoroughly the web is dominated by large media entities vs small companies. My first company Center Court Basketball was the biggest recruitment site in the south. After about a year, when you searched for informaiton about basketball recruits from the Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas area, Rivals and Scout.com both bumped my website and decreased subscriptions to my site by college coaches. I knew this would happen and I knew I couldn't stop it so I create a larger network by adding writers in Cali, Alabama, Louisiana and an additional site here in Memphis. This only improved my results slightly. Sometimes a fight, while there are good intentions, is basically just a fight for the sake of fighting. I eventually stopped running my site and my writers were picked up by Dunk Dog and other websites in the network that is connected to CBS, Yahoo, etc. Now on a different front, my running shoe company encounters this exact same issues when I have to try and garner interest in the brand. Nike so thoroughly controls the athletic shoe market that my brand although there is some serious SEO work invested in my site, doesn't even chart when you search for lightweight running shoes. How did I counteract this? I incorporated my sneaker shop which carries Nike and Jordan into my website and my brand shows up in the same searches now. I also paid for Amazon Ads and utilzed Nike descriptions in my tagging. This also helped. Now back to writing and literature. I've paid for and you've posted my books on your sites for years. I never capitalized because I never promoted my writing in conjunction with the work you did, so my books didn't sell. However, I have always watched what you were doing and whenever I could I would write an article about aalbc or I would list the site on my blogroll, or as I've done recently incorporated your videos and banners into my site. The reason I do this is because in my head, this is the most that I can do to help because I know what we are up against. Zane is a public figure. She will be placed in a position that will attempt to tear her down. It has always been this way in entertainment. That is just the way it is. Your use of her, doesn't and won't change a thing about this. I used Nicholas Cage to show that this happens to all entertainers. Now if you wrote out a complete entry for Wikipedia about Zane and they didn't post that also, then yes that would be a huge problem. However, I'm with Cynique, she should pay her taxes. You know that Black folks have to be above reproach in all that they do when they become stars. Remember the old webrings? Where at the bottom of each page you could go to the next website? That is the only thing that will move sites back towards gaining any traffic from social media platforms. Right now, you're right, people aren't very conscious. They don't realize that Facebook is a black hole. That every link in Facebook is a target and always leaves Facebook open in the background. How will you and I and other website owners deal with this? We can only continue to put out there that people need to pick 5 websites and visit them daily. What I've tried to do with cbpublish.com is invite writers to become a part of the site. I create them a profile and they can post articles about various topics. Basically creating an Examiner type atmosphere. But you know what happens everytime Troy? BLACK FOLKS QUIT WRITING AND START THEIR OWN BLOGS!!!! Every single time they fail to realize that there is power in numbers. What happens to their sites after the initial enthusiasm of starting their own blog? They stop writing and then they are too embarrassed to come back and write because they feel 'some kind of way'. There is a simple solution Oh Rochelle, tax information is public record once you owe. There is a simple solution. AALBC has to become like the examiner. Which is why I keep bringing up wordpress to you. You have to give as many writers as possible a platform to post stories. Those people will then share their articles on aalbc with their facebook and social media peeps. Driving traffic to your site and building the brand into a Huffpost styled entity. The more writers the more you can vet and only choose the best. I failed at doing this, but we respond to you and respect your work so we would contribute. If you have a roster of 50 writers content is King and can be staggered to post daily giving people something to read at all times. I'm sure you know this, but this dialogue is about solutions. This is the only viable solution to the problem of conglomerate control of the web that has forced Blacks to become non-existent.

Go to the cbpublish.com site and check out how I just integrated it today based on our conversation. I was able to implement a photo album and link share so the wall is very similar to Facebook and creates a true social media platform. I think you should possibly consider it.

While I understand net neutrality and privacy are of prime importance, the amount of time you've spent on this fighting for a person who is more than capable of spending this time fighting for themselves kind of throws me for a loop. I don't know Zane, or her social status, but it is up to her to spend time editing and fighting for her perception in social media, on the web, etc. I would prefer that you do what you always do in promoting and fighting for literature and it's importance and relevance in society and becoming a prominent voice in the direction that social media has driven independent websites. When we become public personalities, our private lives take a hit. That is understood. If you simply look up Nicholas Cage his tax information is readily available on Wikipedia which shows that there is not a bias in who they decide to share this information with. I only use him as an example because he was one of the few white guys I could think of with disparaging tax information. As far as editing websites, if they are making public other stars information, it only stands to reason that they will keep Zane's information active and up for the sake of staying "balanced". When I was a professor I didn't allow Wikipedia as a source and I very rarely use it in my day to day work. Honestly, I don't know if this is worth the fight. If she's behind on her taxes, pay em so they can add, "she did have tax trouble." Just my thoughts.

Troy what you are proposing is attainable and actually a very easy fix and it will also help Cynique to simplify the process of uploading pics, etc.You have already made the major adjustment needed to enhance engagement on your site. You have Disqus and people can comment quickly. The problem is the sense of community is stifled because the message board is independent of the site and you know like I do that an extra click can remove people from engaging. If you decided to rebuild the website inside of a Wordpress based site, you can keep the blog format and install buddy press which will allow you to host your own social network that can be monetized with whatever format you choose. Buddy Press builds independent social sites and Cynique could build a similar profile to something on Facebook and literally this would function in the same way. Now the fact still stands that this would be a plug in and could be damaged or removed at any time since it is not original coding, but it does minimize the need for you to write a completely new code like you did with Huria. If it helps I will take the time to install a buddy press section under CB Publishing and we can kind of play around with it for a while to see how it works. This does take a bit of time on my part and I can't committ to how soon I could do this, but it would be a great test for us to continue trying to figure out this whole thing. I hate the fact that I posted the other day here and forgot to come back and check on the thread because I was going to Facebook and Twitter and Tumblr. But that is the reality.

I've also begun to transition away from Facebook. I'm not interacting with as many people as before and it is for the same reason that you are moving away I'm sure... It's not benefiting me business wise. I have not seen any increase in interaction from using any form of social media for any of my businesses. As a writer, I was able to get 300 plus likes on my author's page, but it resulted in maybe 2 purchases of my books. Maybe 2. It also doesn't increase the amount of traffic to my website where at least I could generate ad revenue in some way. Interestingly enough, it did give me a strong baseline for knowing who actually supports my endeavors since i recently started a project and sent over 300 Facebook messages and only 1 person responded from that. Unfortunately, those who are beginning to realize the problems with facebook are not going anywhere which means that I'm not going anywhere either. I simply won't spend a lot of my time promoting anything there. I will become a like button, brief response member. I will continue to click the social share buttons when I post a blog or a new pair of kicks on my sneaker store. I won't however offer paragraph long responses to various statements made on Facebook. I also will not create giant dialogue blocks that contribute to Facebook's bottom line, but do little to promote things that I need to survive. I will be able to see your posts and respond here, giving you a pageview though so Facebook can be useful, but it will take more people to actively comment on posts ON OUR SITES instead of commenting solely on social media platforms.