Great article! I think part of the problem is that the nature of information sharing and network effects is to create a "winner take all" dynamic. McDonald's can be the biggest fast food chain, but there is still room for Burger King. Search and social media, on the other hand, guarantee that #1 stays #1 and there's no reason to ever use the 2nd biggest search engine or 2nd biggest social network, at least for most casual Internet users.
You probably know better than anyone that the top search result is positioned to get the most clicks, and this creates a positive feedback loop, ensuring that results further down the list never see the light of day.
I'm not sure what the answer is. I don't think blockchain or other tools of decentralization would fix it, because even the simplest algorithm of ranking by clicks results in this scenario every time.
Getting rid of the sponsored ads would be a good start, though.