Troy Posted March 21, 2020 Report Share Posted March 21, 2020 Last year one f the most frequently visited pages on this discussion forum was the following page" It was not a particularly popular page with forum participants, but it brought almost 5,000 visitors to the site last 0n 2019 which is pretty good for a post made in 2011 almost 9 years ago to the day. If you Google the term Nigger and Flies, on my search AALBC comes up #3. Now one can argue that I should be happy for the traffic. Google does not serve ads on that discussion forum post, so I don't make money on the page. However, almost everyone who visits the page visits another page, and that is indeed a good thing. What I do lament is the fact that I have much more substantive pages and rank poorly relative to other websites on Google search engine. Those pages typically get more -- MUCH MORE -- traffic from social media sources. Facebook sourced traffic to my children's book pages is eclipsed by traffic from search. This site is not the only one with good children's book content that should rank better in search. One such site is The Brown Bookshelf. My point is Google ranks this site much better on scandalous controversial stuff like "Niggers and Flies" but poorly on content that truly serves Black people. Is this a deliberate conspiracy on Google part? No, I doubt it, it is just a consequence of having young privileged white boys control the WWW. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareem Posted March 22, 2020 Report Share Posted March 22, 2020 Troy you know damn well Google is neither for us or by us. Neither are those social media channels. Once I get settled up in Colorado later this week, we're preparing a lawsuit against Twitter for discrimination. There is a law in California that likely deems the site a "public accommodation." Too much legal mumbo jumbo to get into. But Twitter allows white people to post stuff that they delete if a black person posts the same thing. I've been in contact with several Twitter users and had them take screenshots to show the patterns. If its successful (and is granted class-action status), there may be pathway to start holding Google accountable as well for its obvious bias. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troy Posted March 22, 2020 Author Report Share Posted March 22, 2020 1 hour ago, Kareem said: Google is neither for us or by us Sure, a consequence of opperating in a historically white racist society. Why sue Twitter? Stop using it. Black people disproportionately use Twitter and complain about it's biases. The solution is simple -- stop using it! They'll go out of business or change. Google unfortunately is a monopoly so the same tactic would notas easily as it would with Twitter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareem Posted March 22, 2020 Report Share Posted March 22, 2020 1 hour ago, Troy said: Why sue Twitter? Stop using it. That's not the point. You and I both both know Google, Twitter and social media in general are racially-biased. Goal of a lawsuit is for a court to declare that Google et al are racially-biased, or for the company to admit they are racially biased in depositions. That's what us legal folks do. I get off on forcing corporate high-priced lawyers to research, write and file responses, answers, demurrers, interrogatories, etc. in a lawsuit. 1 hour ago, Troy said: They'll go out of business or change. No, Facebook/Instagram, Twitter, Google/Youtube, etc. will not be going out of business for at least 50-60 years. They are the new ABC, CBS, NBC, etc. They'll change as the tides of society do, just like the old networks did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troy Posted March 23, 2020 Author Report Share Posted March 23, 2020 13 hours ago, Kareem said: Twitter and social media in general are racially-biased. Goal of a lawsuit is for a court to declare that Google et al are racially-biased, or for the company to admit they are racially biased in depositions Ok, but I still think Black people should stop using Twitter. It is not an either or proposition; we can do both. 13 hours ago, Kareem said: No, Facebook/Instagram, Twitter, Google/Youtube, etc. will not be going out of business for at least 50-60 years. The social media sites will defintely not make it 50 years. If those sites go beyond 20 I'll be surprised. Google as we know it today will change as well, companies like Google and Amazon will have to be broken up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareem Posted March 23, 2020 Report Share Posted March 23, 2020 3 hours ago, Troy said: Ok, but I still think Black people should stop using Twitter. But that's just illogical to think will happen. The under 30 crowd is perpetually tied to social media due to their conditioning from birth. All the new social sites get gobbled up by the established one. Just is what it is. The ONLY way Google, Facebook, Amazon, etc. lose their standing as the owners of the internet is by government forcing them to break up. That's just the reality. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troy Posted March 23, 2020 Author Report Share Posted March 23, 2020 44 minutes ago, Kareem said: But that's just illogical to think will happen Perhaps. But I think Black people will eventually see the light. Also the under 30 crowd really does not use Twitter it's us ole headz that use it. I take unscientific polls every years with my students (~100 , 18 to 30 year olds) and Twitter lags behind all other social platforms including TicToc and Snapchat. Instagram is what my students use most. After 45 is out of office Twitter's days are really numbered. I give Twitter 5 years before they become as relevant as MySpace. 49 minutes ago, Kareem said: The ONLY way Google, Facebook, Amazon, etc. lose their standing as the owners of the internet is by government forcing them to break up. That's just the reality. I agree. I also have faith that it will happen... eventually. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareem Posted March 23, 2020 Report Share Posted March 23, 2020 34 minutes ago, Troy said: Instagram is what my students use most. Right and Instagram was an independent company until 2012 when Facebook acquired it. Facebook offered $3 billion to Snapchat a few years back, but they declined. That will change in due course. Vine was the first TikTok. Twitter acquired Vine, Tweetdeck and Periscope. Twitter is not going anywhere. Twitter and Facebook own social media and that's not changing anytime soon. Myspace is not a logical comparison to either Facebook or Twitter. The latter two are giant conglomerates constantly making acquisitions of the new kid on the block. Myspace was a 2-3 year experiment like Friendster, which Facebook also acquired. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troy Posted March 24, 2020 Author Report Share Posted March 24, 2020 Ok we need to distinguish the parent company from the website or mobile application. Alphabet and Amazon are far more diverse with multiple monopolies. They will need to be broken up. Facebook and Twitter are far more vulnerable as they are dependent upon their social platforms, which we really control. Twitter is far more vulnerable that Facebook. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareem Posted March 27, 2020 Report Share Posted March 27, 2020 "Alphabet" is nothing but a shady attempt by Google to hide, funnel, launder, etc. its assets. 95% of "Alphabet's" revenue is Google advertising. Google and Amazon are trillion dollar companies. So logically Facebook is more vulnerable than those two because its "only" worth $70 billion. Twitter is obviously more vulnerable than Facebook as its only worth about $4 billion. Regardless Twitter epitomizes the short attention span, lazy quip culture of the world. So unless there's some mass awakening and people start reading books again, Twitter is just fine. And "we" don't control anything related to those platforms. Not sure where you got that idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troy Posted March 27, 2020 Author Report Share Posted March 27, 2020 31 minutes ago, Kareem said: "we" don't control anything related to those platforms. Not sure where you got that idea. When I say "we" I mean the people. Without our participation all social media would be worthless. we are the ones who provide the value -- the only have they have. We can take it away if we simply chose to do it. I remember when I first heard about "Black Twitter." Stupid me started search for a Twitter-like website owned and operated by Black people. I was disappointed when I found out it was just a term describing Black people's outsized presence on Twitter. I thought I'd found empowerment and ownership and I got was proud sharecropping. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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