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Visit this site to learn how Google make it very difficult to find information online: http://dontbubble.us/ I started noticing this years ago and was very frustrated because it seemed like no one else was getting it. Just visit the website site. The information is related very simply. The also explains why the internet has the effect of feeling like one big echo chamber. Facebook does the same thing. Discovering alternative view points of views or perspectives is very difficult. Which make learning difficult. If everyone agrees with you all the time and no one challenges you ideas you'll never learn...

If you are a reader wondering why it seems harder to discover good websites, or you run website or Blog that writes about authors or books you need to read this article. The Pimping of Wikipedia: Contributing to the Decline of the World Wide Web The mid- and late 1990s was an exciting time for the Web because so much new, rarely shared, or difficult-to-access information was now accessible. Today, there is more reason for concern, outrage even, than there is for excitement. The reasons are plentiful. One reason is the pimping of Wikipedia. (the full article: http://aalbc.it/pimpwiki) )

I'm writing an article about this issue but I thought I'd preview it here first, maybe even get some more ideas from your comments. Click this link http://aalbc.it/look4troy to run a simple Google query on my name, Troy Johnson. Your results will vary depending upon... well God know what, but I can guarantee you the following will be the same no matter who you are. The query will returns the big social media sites before anything on AALBC.com! My Facebook profile is at position #4 My LinkedIn Profile is at position #6 My Twitter profile is #10 AALBC.com does not appear until #16 on the 2nd page! Given that there are almost 25 million pages returned, and that I have a common name, shared with a few celebrities, the fact that I have 3 pages in the top 10 would normally be considered as great by some. This is very bad news because I do not own the 3 top pages. Forget about giving me SEO (search engine optimization) advise, I got that down. Besides my content is more complete and comprehensive that the other social media sites (I created it all). My site's content is almost 15 years old the oldest site beating me, with my own content, is less than 5 years old. I put very little information about myself on Twitter. Facebook has nothing that AALBC.com does not have -- indeed all I use Facebook for is to link back to AALBC.com. I don't really use LinkedIn. The obvious reason for this is that Google, despite all their bullshit about directing people to the best sites with their, complex and secret algorithm, is simply sending people to the large sites first. You might say why of course genius -- waddya expect? Well the fact of the matter is that this was not the case since there was such a thing as a search engine. Google only recently started favoring these large social media sites. If you queried my name a few months ago an AALBC.com page would have come up in the top 5. Watching this happen is astonishing, partially because it is happening right under our noses and no one not the government or the people have a clue it is happening or why it is important. The Internet was once a truly open an democratic environment. Today it is not. Tomorrow is scary.

“...we have fewer independent book sites focused on black authors than we did five years ago. And the ones that remain are even more difficult to find.” Read the rest of the interview: http://aalbc.it/troy2011