Troy

Post the video here when you get a chance Chris. I still have not had a chance to watch the video from the Uber conversation, maybe I grab a notebook and watch these in one shot. I forgot to mention the other reason I'm hopeful is that more and more people are coming to this conclusion on their own, and I have seen immediate benefits; we just have not reached a tipping point. I'd image the situation is similar in the Sneaker and Music business huh? How do you keep track of some many different industries?

This morning I was researching the 2016 Wheatley Book Awards on the Harlem Book Fair’s website and saw a big “Web-Stat Traffic Analysis” button at the bottom of the page, intrigued, I checked it out. The chart above shows the top 10 sources of traffic to the Harlem Book Fair’s website. As you can see AALBC.com has provided the Harlem Book Fair with almost 7% of all of their traffic for 2016, more than all of their social media combined. The chart shows that, on average, I’m sending just under 3 visitors a day to their site. That might not sound like a lot, but if AALBC.com disappeared today, the Harlem Book Fair site would immediately lose 7% of their traffic. This is EXACTLY why are our websites struggle. Multiply this effect across all of the other Black book sites that have closed and previously sent traffic to the Harlem Book Fair’s site, and it becomes clear how this lost traffic adds up. The refferal traffic lost to sites like The Harlem Book and AALBC.com has been significant. Yesterday, I shared a graph that shows how my referral traffic has dropped from 12% in 2014 to 3% in 2016. But it gets worse... It is not just that fact that we have FEWER Black websites who would potentially link to our sites. The ones that remain simply do not link to each other as much as they used to. I noticed this trend a few years ago and have written about it to the point of exhaustion. Many of the these sites, particularly the larger ones, have brought into the myth propagated by corporations that linking other websites is bad for one’s website. For course the alternative solution these corporations have offered is to actively participate and buy advertising on their platforms—otherwise known as social media marketing. Today virtually all of the sites, including the Harlem Book Fair’s site, that have stopped linking to other Black sites now, enthusiastically, link to social media sites. I have failed to see a single instance where, and no one has ever demonstrated that, the traffic lost from referrals from other websites has been made up by social media. Unfortunately this point fails to resonate with people because; they have completely bought into the social media hype, they have no historical perspective from which to draw, or they have simply not looked at their own web site’s traffic over time. It is also worth pointing out that the exchange of links between the Harlem Book Fair’s site and AALBC.com is not an equal exchange on any level: AALBC.com has gotten more visitors, in one day, than the Harlem Book Fair has gotten all year. The benefit is derived when all sites, large and small, are engaged in the activity of linking to each other. If that was not depressing enough... Why did I stop covering the Harlem Book Fair’s activities? Honestly, it is because of a lack of reciprocation. If you run a search for AALBC.com on the Harlem Book Fair’s website you get NOTHING in return. However run a search for the Harlem Book Fair on AALBC.com and you get over 400 results! When I attend the Harlem Book Fair, shoot video, post the award winning books, and much more; this takes time, money, and energy. I did this because I enjoyed the fair and it provided great content for the website. But there many other events I can enjoy and generate content from AND receive the needed reciprocation—a simple link to my site will do. In today’s environment I have to be more conscious and strategic about the events I choose to invest my time in. Finally there is hope! Linking to other websites works adds value to your website. I’m not saying link to any site without discretion. What I’m saying is don’t let some corporation stop you from linking to another website, because you think it will hurt your search engine rankings or will send visitors away from your site. When someone visits AALBC.com and discovers another website they enjoy; I have provided a valueable service and most likely earned a repeat visitor. As a result, I have always linked to other sites I think are valuable—even if they never return the favor. In the case of the Harlem Book Fair, I used to share information on the Wheatley Awards, but stopped in 2013; my efforts were better directed to other activities. However, my new website design allows me to more easily add lists of books, so I decided to begin sharing the Wheatley Awards again. The value proposition in providing information about these award winning books to my visitors is worth the lack of reciprocation. Plus the web would be a less rich place if the Harlem Book Fair’s site went away or migrated to Facebook. Please link to other sites you find valuable, not just because it makes the World Wide Web a better experience, but because it will make your site more valuable which is critical to your site’s survival over the long term.

The problem with the so called Bullssit interviws that Obama does with comedians is that they will NEVER ask a tough questions; certainly nothing of importance to the African-American community. It may be smugness, considering his preference for Ivy League educated cabinet member, but it could be part of a brilliant strategy to remain above reproach, for the Black masses have no interest in challenging Obama on any level. Indeed, anyone who does is vilified. Instead of amping up Jimmy Fallon's ratings and having his ego stroked, Obama could have granted The Chicago Defender preferred access which would have bolstered the paper's profile and instead of struggling it could have grown as a direct result of Obama's support. A small price to pay consider the support the paper supplied candidate Obama. While I did not know about Ebony, the writing was on the wall for for sometime. I'm glad they found a buyer sparing us the pain of witnessing a their slow death. I have not hope that the publication will be of relevance to the Black community--indeed when was it last? On a brighter note I did learn about a Black owned newspaper today out of St Louis, called, The St. Louis Evening Whirl and has been around, family owned for almost 80 years!

Interestingly it is not just the Black media Obama blowing off These are quotes from a Washington Post article. “Remarkably, Post news reporters haven’t been able to interview the president since late 2009. Think about that. The Post is, after all, perhaps the leading news outlet on national government and politics, with no in-depth, on-the-record access to the president of the United States for almost all of his two terms.” “After early promises to be the most transparent administration in history, this has been one of the most secretive. And in certain ways, one of the most elusive. It’s also been one of the most punitive toward whistleblowers and leakers who want to bring light to wrongdoing they have observed from inside powerful institutions.” I know die-hard Obama supports ain't tryin' to hear any of this, but this stuff is important. We can't be surprised when people are so easily radicalized against the United States, when our own country won't even tell us how many civilians are being killed in the bazillion drone strikes we execute.

Thanks @CDBurns This discussion forum, in general, is not a major driver of traffic to his site. I think it should be, and could be, but for now social media owns that space. That said, two popular pages on this site for May (shown below) are here on the forums. Over 1,500 people who visited "The 10 Best Damn Websites Period" post and spent on average 6 minutes of the page. Even though there is not much conversation on these pages they are read frequently. The overall driver to the site is content related to books. The lists are very popular including the various bestsellers lists, children book lists, etc. These pages are far more popular than anything on the discussion forums. The articles I've written about the clousre of bookstores are very popular: http://aalbc.com/blog/index.php/2014/03/31/54-black-owned-bookstores-remain-america/index.html Even through this article was written over two years ago, it consistently bring at least a thousand readers a month often many more. But other sites link to this article and as discussed referral traffic is a key to our collective survival, though it is a tool few of us use.

Marc, man I guess you are right. But there is no denying that Obama courted the Black media initially; even appearing at the NNPA conference. Did you read his quote above? It seems much of the media was focused on Obama's marginalization of Tavis Smiley, when in reality he was indeed marginalizing the Black establishment, choosing to curry favor with those who appealed to the masses the Al Sharptons and Tom Joyners, people who were never, ever gonna hold Obama accountable. Several in the Black media, I'm talking about professional journalists, have already told me Obama has been the least transparent president they have dealt with! Why these very same newspapers don't write articles about this an explain way is beyond me. Perhaps they are too afraid to anger the few readers thay have left, or ever wors,e bear the brunt of Obama wrath.

I'm not sure if the graph on the right is legible, but it depicts the source of AALBC.com's traffic for the three month periods, May 2016, May 2015, and May 2014. For each of these periods more than 90% of my traffic comes from three sources Organic Search (visitors who arrive at the site as a result of a query on a search engine), Direct Traffic (visitor entering a URL directly or clicking a bookmark), and Referral Traffic from other websites. I picked May because it is a typical month, not the busiest month, usually February (Black History) and November (holiday shopping), nor the slowest month usually July (vacation time). While I'm not sharing my specific numbers, just percentages, the information should still be useful. AALBC.com's Website traffic has also steadily increased and improved on virtually every single metric. The website's upgrade which has been ongoing for the past 6 month, and will probably take a year to complete, has resulted in an anticipated improvement in engagement, based upon the average number of pages views, per visit. The number of pages viewed per visit more than doubled since 2014. This is on top of an increase in the number of overall visitors which continues to grow each year; up 108% from 2013, 80% from 2014, and 68% from 2015 for the month of May. Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, etc) has held steady at roughly 3% the past year I've greatly reduced the amount of time I spend engaging directly on social media--limiting my activity to posting links usually directly from the page I'm sharing, without visiting the social media site. So it is good to see that a tremendous reduction of time spent on social media has had no adverse impact on the traffic generated from social media. In fact, because website traffic is up overall that 3% actually an increase in visitors (all organic) from social media during the periods measured. The vast majority of social media referral come from Facebook, Twitter is a distant 2nd and all the others including Google+ and Pinterest are negligible sources of traffic to AALBC.com Referral traffic (visitors directed by hyperlink on other sites), as a function of percent of total traffic has declined steadily over the past three years dropping from approximately 12% to 3% of overall traffic. Referral traffic tends to be the highest quality traffic, visitors referred from other sites tend to stay on the site longer and view more websites than any other source. Sadly, the decline of referral traffic is due to a few reasons; (1) a decrease in the number of websites that historically linked to AALBC.com; (2) the trend of larger sites not to link to other websites; and (3) a trend toward Facebook away from standalone websites as one primary web presence. All of these problems feed on each other making the others worse. I've actually invested years trying to change this trend; obviously with little impact. All I can do is continue to link to other websites and continue to fight, because as referral traffic dries up, we all becoming increasingly dependent upon corporate website for traffic—which comes at a much higher cost. I'm sharing this information to potentially help other webmasters by giving them another website to which they can compare their stats and ideally, figure out ways to improve their traffic.

Place your horizontal banner ad on all AALBC.com pages for only $5 per day (in 30 day increments). 50% off all continuously running campaigns after 60 days.

Actual journalists have been saying the worst "since 911," or the "worst mass shooting," or some other language which is accurate, while at the same time sufficiently sensational to draw in viewers. In the world of social media where people are sloppy with language, ignorant of history, have an agenda, or are Trump supporters, pointing our McVey as if anyone has forgotten about him would be necessary. Memes like this and social media where these things proliferate never capture the nuance or complexity of any situation. They are designed to illicit an emotional reaction. Of course there have been countless atrocities perpetrated on U.S. soil. Some make the shooting in Orlando look like a garden party. Which sadly makes it "just another day in the USA."

Hi Kianna, Is there a website for this event? I would like to add it to our list of event: http://aalbc.com/events/ but I need a website (as oppossed to just the evenbrite page). Thanks!

Thanks man I will read this and get back to you. Just letting you know I saw the post.

Pioneer the operative word is culture. I used "Black" because it is what people are used to. The same culture has been called Afro-American, African-America, Negro. We also know the culture is not defined by skin color (assuming that is the criteria you use to define someone's race). Roping this conversation back to the original subject: Perhaps Obama feels no allegiance to the Black press, and has no problem ignoring it, because he is not "Black" culturally. Given who raised him, where he was raised and how he was raised, this would be perfectly natural. But even that does not explain, at least to my satisfaction, why Obama would blow off his biggest supporters. Maybe he lumps the Black press in with Tavis Smiley and Cornel West?

LOL. A regular wiseguy eh? I'll continue to assert that race is an artificial construct developed diminish our humanity. Keep in mind @Pioneer1 there is not such thing as race there is indeed a Black culture. Needless to say, I recognize we live in America where the vast majority of people won't let go of the fiction of race, so I'm forced to deal with the negative consequences of nonsense as a so called "Black man." So while our culture, or "race" for those stuck in the 19th century, is under constant assault, I'm inclined to defend myself. When the 1st Black President actively choose to ignore the Black press I'm offended. Check out the statement made by Obama in 2007 when he was courting the Black vote: Naming three Chicago black newspapers —the Defender, the Crusader and the Citizen — Obama said that when he served in the Illinois legislature, those papers would cover issues he was working on that the mainstream press would not. "My attitude is that if you were covering me when nobody wanted to cover me, then they should cover me when everybody wants to cover me. That attitude will continue when I'm in the White House," Obama said. Now can someone explain to me why Obama has not given a Black newspaper an interview? Obama gave a white guy, in his garage, an interview for Christ's Sake!? You may read the full report of then Senator Obama's appearance at the National Association of Black Journalists convention in Las Vegas in 2007 on Richard Prince's Journal-isms™ at the Maynard Institute.

The following is a comment made, in 2014 by George E. Curry then editor of the NNPA News Service, bemoaning the fact Obama had not granted a single interview with the Black press. As far as I can tell, with Obama's presidency coming to an end he still has not spoken with the Black press. I ran a Huria Search and can find no evidence that he has. Obama has given interviews to Ebony and Tom Joyner, but again not to a single owned Black owned newspaper. If someone can prove that this is wrong please post a link to the article—thanks George E. Curry editor of the NNPA News Service, complained last week that President Obama was disrespecting the black media, too. “There is a disrespect for the black press that we have not seen in recent years. For example, we have requested — every year — an interview with the president. He can ignore 200 black newspapers and 19 million viewers but he can give one to every stupid white comedian there is on TV, the black ones and the white ones, and has time for all types of buffoonery but they will not respect the black press enough to give us an interview,” Curry said on TVOne’s NewsOneNow with Roland Martin. —from Richard Prince’s Journal-isms™ Some will argue that Obama does not need the Black press to reach Black folks. To that I can only say; then we don't deserve Black newspapers. Sure, white owned platforms can indeed reach Black voters, but that reach is not the same thing in terms of presentation, context, sensibility... You see, the idea that Obama has not given an interview to a Black newspaper is news. White owned platforms would have of course ignored this, because to them, it is of no consequence, and they quite happy continuing to control our narrative. Judging by our collective behavior we quite happy allowing them to do so.

I read an article the day of the incident, and skimmd the comments section. Everyone to a person said things, like this is why we need trump. trump will care of this and the like. I was like whoa what website am I on? Is was Fox News... I wonder if ISIS actually wants Trump in the Whitehouse. I guess that way it will be clearer, that deep down inside, we are really not very different that they are.

Here, Richard Prince reports on issues important to Black journalists and newspapers, discussed during a countable discussion held late last year. I have strong opinions about all of the issues raised in Richard's article. The fact that this article was not on one of the independent, Black-owned newspapers websites, which many of the participants work for is just a start. I'll give you one guess where I found this article... We have a loooong way to go.

Thanks for sharing your event information here Eric. I just added it to our events calendar: http://aalbc.it/rmbpf

Cynique, you might be surprised how often old threads are read. The old Thumper's Corner is still read. These conversations may be old to us, but to new visitors, they are brand new. Speaking of monogamy here is a book out which came out earlier in the year, The Wait: A Powerful Practice for Finding the Love of Your Life and the Life You Love, in which the subjects say they waited and have apparently found bliss. But of course, real life never matches the finely crafted narratives created by celebrities selling products. In fact, the real lives of many of these celebrities, often turn out to be something completely different even extreme by present day standards.

Hi Lisa, one could argue that a strong loving family exists because men cheat. Cheating, in and of itself, does not cause damage to the family structure and illegitimate children. Lack of birth control causes this. As far as arguments and jealousy, getting caught and lack of discretion is usually the culprit. Stating that monogamy is the "right" thing makes assumptions that I'm not willing accept so easily. What makes monogamy right? I don't ask the question lightly: Sapiens have been running around on this planet for about 200K years. When did monogamy become right? If there was a start, when did it happen and who decreed it to be right? Is this a permanent rule? I understand our cultural standards completely, but I can also observe our collective behavior as well. The cultural standard is that people are only supposed to have sex with one other person, of the opposite gender, that we are married to. Again one will argue this is the right thing to do, but I'm not so sure. Given the almost complete failure of anyone to do this should be a clue. Also who says monogamy has to be limited to men?

Glad you had a good time at the Prince party Cynique. I just read over this exchange between you and Sara. While you both apparent dislike each other, I can't help but believe you both get some type of perverse pleasure dissing each other. Otherwise why would either of you invest the time and energy doing it? This is why I originally thought you too were just talking smack and not taking it seriously and definitely not personally. If either of you were sincerely interested in it stopping the back and forth, you would just ignore the other. It the one constantly attacked the other without provocation or retaliation, they would be a troll. I always ban trolls.

I seem to recall seeing this book, Black Fathers: An Invisible Presence in America These types of books never really resonate with me, as this is not my experience. All of the men I know raise their children, lament that fact that they can't raise them and are raising other men's children. I also know the stats about kids not knowing their biological fathers, or kids born out of wedlock generally don't factor in the fact that there is often a man in the house helping to raise and support these children. From the publisher: This book offers a broader, more positive picture of African American fathers. Featuring case studies of African-descended fathers, this edited volume brings to life the achievements and challenges of being a black father in America. Leading scholars and practitioners provide unique insight into this understudied population. Short-sighted social policies which do not encourage father involvement are critically examined and the value of father engagement is promoted. The problems associated with the absence of a father are also explored. The second edition features an increased emphasis on: the historical issues confronting African descended fathers the impact of health issues on Black fathers and their children the need for therapeutic interventions to aid in the healing of fathers and their children the impact of an Afrikan-centered fathering approach and the need for research which considers systemic problems confronting African American fathers community focused models that provide new ideas for (re)connecting absent fathers learning tools including reflective questions and a conclusion in each chapter and more theory and research throughout the book. Part I provides a historical overview of African descended fathers including their strengths and shortcomings over the years. Next, contributors share their personal stories including one from a communal father working with underserved youth and two others that highlight the impact of absent fathers. Then, the research on father-daughter relationships is examined including the impact of father absence on daughters and on gender identity. This section concludes with a discussion of serving adolescents in the foster care system. Part II focuses on the importance of a two-parent home, communal fathering, and equalitarian households. Cultural implications and barriers to relationships are also explored. This section concludes with a discussion of the struggles Black men face with role definitions. The book concludes with a discussion of the impact of adoption and health issues on Black fathers and their children, and the need for more effective therapeutic interventions that include a perspective centered in the traditions and cultures of Afrika in learning to become a father. The final chapter offers an intervention model to aid in fatherhood. An ideal supplementary text for courses on fathers and fathering, introduction to the family, parenting, African American families/men, men and masculinity, Black studies, race and ethnic relations, and family issues taught in a variety of departments, the book also appeals to social service providers, policy makers, and clergy who work with community institutions.

Gimme a few to watch the video and reply. I really don't know enough about how Lyft works to speak to them specifically outside of the of the fact they are not peer to peer which, on that basis, makes them similar to Uber. What distinguishes ebay from Amazon is that Amazon is the seller and their goal is to sell everything. ebay provides an effective platform for people to sell directly to other people (peer-to-peer). Sure Amazon also offer their marketplace, but this is not their focus and may simply be offered as a way to keep the ebays of the world from growing or even launching (again the real problem with monopolies). If you are saying that ebay is now selling things directly that way amazon does (storing, shipping, manufacturing products), then you are telling me something I was not aware of. Also, ebay and paypal are two separate different companies. As an aside: I'm really liking Square much better than PayPal and am transitioning the new site to use Square exclusively.

Photo Credit: Regina Brooks African-American women hit the books because it’s a way to spark a conversation, and to learn, validate, and share, says Lloyd-Sgambati: “You have to remember that not so long ago, it was punishable by death for an African-American to read, mainly because white society feared the spread of knowledge. Now many readers think, ‘I am doing this for my ancestors.’ My mother had eight children, but she ended every day by reading a book. It’s a large part of the African-American tapestry of their lives. It’s a myth perpetuated that they don’t read.” It’s not just African-American women who are reading, says Johnson. The men are also hungry for something that speaks to their lives. “It is not clear to me that men are reading less, but they are reading differently,” he says. “Women are more likely to get together and talk about books and go to readings. Those types of things are more visible, but that doesn’t mean men aren’t reading and exploring as well.” Read the complete article at Publisher's Weekly.

The Carter G Woodson Awards has recognized the most diverse set of books for young readers than anyone.

Man you should know me better that this by now :-) I related my personal experience, as you did, primarily to show that I understand the appeal from the rider's perspective. But trust I was wearing my MBA/Entrepreneur hat when looking at Uber's business model. Also keep in mind asking a bunch of drivers question is not much better than our experiences, they are just more anecdotes. We can also make different assumption of the expenses (for example, I would argue most cars would not get 40 miles per gallon in city driving). The fundamental question I'm really asking/ however; is society better off with Uber/Lyft, with the previous model or something else (true peer to peer)? Again we both attest to the benefits from the rider's perspective. But is that trade off worth the resulting negatives to society? Again, if white women can get dresses that cost less because enslaved Africans are picking the cotton is society better off? Chris you should check out The Harvard Business review of how Uber managers drivers, you might be surprised by certain aspects of the how the business actually works. This is one of the reasons asking drivers what they think, though interesting, is not very valuable in understanding Uber's model--the primary reason is that the driver may simply be ignorant of these issues or not sophisticated to appreciate them. Man peer to peer model is realistic, is in use today, and I believe the future. ebay, for example, it is doing very well; this is just is not resulting in the fantastic numbers that makes headlines. Closer to home, the digital revolution has made it possible for more Black people to publish books, but Amazon's model, which dominates the Black book ecosystem, is all about "extraction," revenue generation. So despite the plethora of Black books Amazon is not helping in the process of getting the best books to the readers most likely to enjoy them. This opens up opportunities for other businesses to reap financial reward by compensating for Amazon's deficiencies. Of course Amazon will do everything in their power to crush any competition, but they can't succeed, because at the end of the day, you'll make a little less money when you are unwilling to exploit people and that is a tradeoff facebook, Amazon and Uber are unwilling to make--despite what the billionaires who own these companies say. The actions of their companies reveal the truth.