Troy

Well that's the thing Cynqiue, essentially all we hear in the media--especially the Black media, are the positives associated with social media as described by social media users. While I agree with the video I too am a user of social media--I'm just not addicted to it. This discussion forum is a social media platform. But I make no attempt to invade anyone's privacy, sell anyone information, or attempt to manipulate people in ways that the popular social media platforms do. I believe most users of social media do not present there true selves. I'm not just talking about the trolls who hide behind bogus avatars and say things they would never say in person. I'm talking about regular people. My name is Troy and I'm a social media addict. Several years ago I used to be a heavy social media user. The people I knew in the real world were not the ones I saw on social media. Neither was I for that matter. After while you just get bored reading the fiction of everyone else's lives. Like most things Facebook is really is what you make it, but much of what I'd like to make Facebook is already available, in a better form, elsewhere on the web, but many of these sites now struggle because so much of our online time is spent on Facebook. So it is not just the web that is less rich our real world experiences are less rich as a result.

This is certainly a really good idea from Amazon's perspective, I'm sure they will get a deluge of submissions. It will be interesting to learn what the terms are and how they compare to a traditional book deal, contest, whatever.... In the meantime, indie publishers who compete using a different model, often no advance and a 50-50% split on sales could lose out on the best manuscripts to amazon;s $1,500 advance. Even though the authors have to edit their own manuscripts and get their own covers designed.

Anyone who knows me knows I've been singing this tune for years. I also believe all of the issues described in this video adversely impact Black people more than any other culture in America. I know part of the problem is that I rarely hear Black folks discussing social media in this way, and I think for the most part we are largely ignorant of these issues, and don't really care to think deeply about them. Another, perhaps more important factor, is that social media simply has us addicted. People who are happy and led fulfilling lives are probably not the same folks who have their cell phones out while dining with others in a restaurant. They probably never took a bathroom mirror selfie and are not stressed if they leave their cell phones at home by mistake. If anyone in this country has a reason to be depressed and stressed out it is Black people. So it is no wonder we dominate social media platforms like Twitter. We have become addicted to the activity, like a drug. And like a drug, alcohol, or junk food, you can get away with it occasionally, or in small doses, but constant use is destructive. We are destroying ourselves, and large corporations are profiting from it like any common cracker crack dealer. Actually the title is this video is "How Social Media Makes us Unsocial," but if figured the more inflammatory title would attract more viewers. You attract more people with sensationalism than reason.

I started Brooks profile a long while ago in anticipation of a book he was working on, The Maturation of Moses. I understand he has completed the book and folks are working on getting published. Brook and I worked together on The Harlem Book Fair (over a decade ago) and, most recently, The National Black Writer's Conference. He was a very positive Brother, and down for working to make things better for all of us. The Black Book Ecosystem will certainly feel the loss; and we really can't afford any loses.

I plan to attend this event. Thanks for posting this here. Brook was a cool Brother.

From... 30 Indispensable Writing Tips From Famous AuthorsWriting is easy: All you have to do is start writing, finish writing, and make sure it’s good. But here’s some vastly more useful wisdom and advice from people who seriously know what the hell they’re talking about.

I'll try to pop in sometime during your event and check it out.

Folks can also go to Fiverr look under Graphics and design, then Banner ads they'll be able to have a well made banner created for as little as $5. I've been using Canva to create my banner and memes. I created the banner below, which I think looks pretty nice and I have no design skills :-)

Here is the link to the interview: http://bit.ly/jt-tdj Akaschic is a Brokklyn, NY based publisher. They have kept in print a bunch of talented Black writers that would have had to self-publish, but more likely we may not have see the work of those writers at all. The name was chosen with the same sensibility. I'm sure you would get along with the Publisher, Johnny Temple. Del we are all ignorant about something. So I'm not annoyed by plain 'ole ignorance, that is normal. What does annoy me are folks you are arrogantly, or even murderously ignorant. Many Black people have died, for example, due to ignorant racists. Even when you present some racists with facts they still believe Black people are subhuman, therefore unworthy of being treated like fellow human beings. Del I don't think I'm as direct as my chart would indicate. A few days ago someone posted here asking for the definition of a word. My direct self wanted to say, "go away and come back when you've learned to use a dictionary." Now you might say I was annoyed by ignorance, but I'd say I was annoyed by simple stupidity. Yes Del, I believe Bill is guilty of drugging and sexually assaulting more than one woman. But surely these accusations could have been made public 20 years ago. Why has this become an issue after so much time has passed? Doesn't this seen strange to you? I don't believe for a split second that this came to light because of Twitter.

Hey JonReneé congratulations on your new book. I've added it to our website: http://aalbc.it/poeticlyric This website is underconstruction and should be ready by next year. I would share the information in the document you've attached directly into a post. Many people myself included do not like downloading documents. That is one of the easiest way to spread a virus--even without the sender's knowledge. Besides people without the appropriate program may not be able to open the document. If you just copy and paste the contents of the document you may be surprised how well the format of the original document is preserved. Chris you mentioned something about it being a problem using your own ISBN with Createspace, I know they allow you to do this, but what problems does it cause for you to feel that using the ISBN's they provide would be preferable to using your own?

Thanks again for sharing your poetry here Shaniqka. I see that you do a bunch of others things besides write poems. I added your Blog to our Blogger database: http://aalbc.it/myheartssaysthis

Hey Brother man I answered your question about Bill 4 weeks ago: http://aalbc.com/tc/index.php?/topic/3199-whatever/&do=findComment&comment=13188 What does "my flat is a Maori" mean. Are you in New Zealand or am I taking you too literally?

Hi Shontavius, Thanks for sharing information about your book. I've added it to the new AALBC.com website: http://aalbc.it/beautifulbrowns AALBC.com's new website will feature a lot of information about books not found on most other websites. It you have a youtube video, a website or any other information about you book that you would like to share, please post it here, and I will add it to the database. I hope to have the new website rolled out by the 18th anniversary of our website's launch (March 2016). If you have any suggestions on things I can include on a the new AALBC.com book page like this, please post them here. There will be new authors pages as well.

Hey Hickson besides being fun for you, does this sort of activity accomplish anything else? What time will you be starting on the 5th?

People annoy others with their ignorance, not themselves. "Everyone is asleep..."--you can stop right there :-) In American achievement is defined by who has the most wealth, which is why few are satisfied, as you can always accumulate more wealth. Where you been Del?

No problem Chris, that is why I asked folks to post their banners here. That way I don't have to worry about everyone's server availability. Also, would you edit your post to include the URL you want me to send people who click the banner. Finally, if you ever get banners for the other sizes add those to the post too. Uploading banners for all sizes makes it easier for folks to run you add. For example, while I can serve the 728x90 banner on my site, I don't have the available inventory, but I could find a spot for a 300x250 banner. Once I get a few more banners (at least three banners for each size) uploaded here, I'll post the code with instructions. Maybe I'll run the 728X90 banner ads on the bottom of the discussion forum pages.

Thanks Chris the canonical element on the page (shown below points to your website): <link rel="canonical" href="http://www.cbpublish.com/business-how-bloggers-can-help-each-other/" />That said, I think this is a really good idea to share blog posts. Imagine if just 1/2 of the 198 bloggers currently on Huria Search, found an article on one of the other blogs and used "Pressed This," just once a week. I don't think this would be too difficult, as most of the Bloggers use WordPress. I'm going to press another Bloggers article once a week. Maybe the other Bloggers I press will return the favor. I've been tweeting other Blogs a few times a week, but I think this is a better strategy. Thanks Chris!

One of the most important things that will serve this effort is data. I will try to share what I have. I hope other will do so too. I wrote a Blog post called, "How Bloggers Can Help each Other" I'll report how many people read the post after it has been up a while I also posted a link to the Blog post on the Blog section of Huria Search I sent an email to all of the Bloggers for whom I was able to find an email address. When I sent the email there were 195 Bloggers in my database. I was only able to find email addresses for 128 of those Bloggers. Apparently 5 of those email addresses were no good, so my email reached 123 Bloggers. Just over half opened the email and only 12 clicked any of the links in the email. While a better than 50% is excellent, I'd hoped for a better response rate; so far only two additional people have expressed an interest on this forum. I did share minimally via social media (non-peak periods) and on a Black Blogger social network, called Black Blogger's Connect. I have not noticed any engagement through these efforts and I have not really looked though. I plan to share information about this in my next eNewsletter, that will drum up more support. I never had any illusions that this would be an easy task. But ultimately I'll like to learn why a Blog would not join an effort to share information and collaborate.

Chris can you shoot me an example of this on your website. Better yet, why don't you demonstrate how to do this by pressing my Blog post about Bloggers helping Bloggers: http://aalbc.com/blog/index.php/2015/08/18/bloggers/

OK probably the easiest thing to do to get this one rolling would be to solicit banner ads from folks. I'd actually have to create the banner ads for my own Blog. Anyone who is interested in doing this here are the steps 1 - Post three banners for their website on this forum. 728x90 (horizontal)300x250 (rectangle)160x600 (vertical)If you do not have three banners post what you have. 2 - Supply the URL I would expect this to be your Blog's homepage 3 - Add the Code that I will provide to display all of the participants banners on your website (this should be the homepage and the very minimum) Basically that is all that is required. Our course in order for your banner to remain in rotation on the other sites you must display the banner on your website. Once I get a few participants I'll provide three pieces of code (one for each ad size). Participants will be required to serve at least one of the ad sizes. We will use this conversation to keep track of all of the participating Bloggers.

This idea was initiated by Patricia here. Hi Patricia, I probably was not being very clear. What I was asking you was how would YOU update a page to include a the canonical element on a specific page. Would you be using a specific wordpress plugin to make these updates on your blog for example? For example, if I said you could you publish my "Only 54 Black Owned Bookstores Remain in America" blog post I would need you to use the following line of code on the web page: <link rel='canonical' href='http://aalbc.com/blog/index.php/2014/03/31/54-black-owned-bookstores-remain-america/' />I do not think most Bloggers would know how to update their Blogs to make this change. I'd bet there is a plugin that could make this change, but again, I'm not sure the average blogger would know who to make this type of update. Now as far as paying for content, something I do, I would not want to use a canonical URL to point to the originator. There is no incentive for me to publish the content, and give all the SEO benefits to someone else.

I was thinking about creating an aggregated feed of everyone's Blog, publishing it on Huria, and making it available to others. Maybe the feed could be segmented by category so that readers can customize what the read. This could actually be monetized, converted into a mobile ap, and more. It would take some work to create this and is not what I would call low hanging fruit, but someone with some technical skill could knock this out pretty quickly. If we had enough blogger committed to sharing, using and promoting the feed it might be worth the effort.

How about committing to commenting, or sharing, information on another Blog on a regular basis? We could do this monthly, weekly, or even daily. Some of us are on social media everyday; why not invest in elevating our own properties? This idea is not to force people to comment on other blogs, just for the sake of comments. I'm suggesting that we make the effort to find an article that truly interests us and share it with others who are likely to appreciate it. Finding a blog should not be a problem; here is a list of more than 200 blogs to choose from: http://aalbc.com/blogs/

I was thinking about having each blog create a banner ad which would display an advertisement for each blog. The ad could be placed on web each of the participating blogs and every time the website's page is loaded a different blog's would appear. Of course some Blogs are more suitable for banner advertisements than others, but that is a detail that can be worked out it people are interested in the idea. Some Blogs only have a few inbound links. This idea would create a great many more, which would raise everyone's profile. It would perform better than a paid ad--because it could probably get a higher CTR and be done at no cost.

Everyone: I just created a new forum Bloggers Helping Bloggers: http://aalbc.com/tc/index.php?/forum/14-bloggers-helping-bloggers/ I will pick up on the canonical conversation there.