DISQUS

Tiffany · 6 months ago

But we weren't late to social networking sites. Quite the contrary. We were on BlackPlanet.com almost ten years before Friendster, MySpace or Facebook.

The initial requirement of a .edu address certainly shaped why we weren't on Facebook in large numbers at first, but let's not perpetuate the "black people were late to social media sites" myth.

Guest · 6 months ago

IT all has to do with who created Facebook. If a guy from Morehouse would have created FB, majority blacks would have had access to it or known about it.

Facebook started from a white Ivy league student, so it's natural that demographic was introduced to it first.

Why does everything have to be so racial? Whoever wrote this post had nothing better else to do than did up old shit that doesn't matter. Do your research and check out http://theblvdmag.com



What about collegeclub.com, Blackplanet....these are all old. Black folks are never behind....we are always the innovators! Believe that!

Guest · 6 months ago

I feel you Tiffany! This post is silly and the topic was not researched efficiently.
check out http://theblvdmag.com

sungoddess · 6 months ago

I have to agree with Tiffany... sounds a lot like the myth that there aren't any minorities in Second Life.

Mikey Digital (Black Digerati) · 6 months ago

@Tiffany, @guest, @sungoddess: Sup everyone.. just so we're clear, Black Digerati is well aware that before facebook or myspace, there was Blackplanet. The purpose of showing the video wasn't to dispute that fact, as I'm sure the professor in the video is not even aware of Blackplanet. The point of showing the video was to show a professor explaining her research and giving her perspective on why she thinks perhaps minorities were slow to accessing social network sites such as Facebook. This is the same professor whose recent research also showed that African-Americans lack the necessary skills online when it comes to information retrieval.

And to 'guest', it doesn't always have to be about race, but obviously research like that is important otherwise the Macarthur Foundation wouldn't have given her and Northwestern the funding to conduct the research in the first place. Mikey Digital

Mikey Digital (Black Digerati) · 6 months ago

lol.. She is trying to give her perspective or her analysis as to why she thinks minorities were late to accessing social networking sites such as facebook.. =)

Mikey Digital (Black Digerati) · 6 months ago

Guest,

Black Digerati agrees with you.. as black folks we are the innovators.. we created science.. check the history on that.. But there are a lot of people (even ivy league trained professors) that don't know about our history in technology.. an example of someone not knowing is the video we posted up on the site..

Also, at Black Digerati we don't beat the race drum.. that is a waste of time.. we're all about the development, visibility and inclusion of African-Americans in technology as academic majors, in corporate america, and as tech entrepreneurs.. we do this by creating persuasive technologies.. nothing more nothing less..