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| Company type | Social networking company |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1999[1] |
| Founder | Benjamin Sun Omar Wasow |
| Headquarters | 205 Hudson Street, 6th Floor ,New York, New York USA |
| Owner | Urban One |
| Website | blackplanet |
BlackPlanet is an African-Americansocial networking service formatchmaking and job postings. The company website also containsforums for discussion of political and social issues.[2]
BlackPlanet was launched by internet analystOmar Wasow on September 1, 2001. Wasow had previously created a pre-web community dubbed New York Online in 1993 with Community Connect's CEO, Benjamin Sun.[2]
The website is run by Community Connect ofNew York City, which also ownsAsianAvenue.com andMiGente.com.[2] In April 2008, Community Connect and its constituent websites were purchased for $38 million byRadio One, aLanham-based media company.[3]
BlackPlanet states its broader mission is to strengthen the Black community.[2]
The most popular forums on BlackPlanet wereCurrent Events,Heritage &Identity,Relationships,Religion &Spirituality, andWomen.[4] According to Wasow, BlackPlanet's home-grown software encouragedsocial connection rather than passive content consumption, allowing users to move between personal pages and a variety of message boards.[2]
BlackPlanet hosted more than 6 million unique visitors a month in 2008.[5]
Wasow went so far as to claim that[6]
The guys who started Myspace were quoted inBusiness Week magazine saying that they looked at BlackPlanet as a model for Myspace and thought there was an opportunity to do a general market version of what BlackPlanet was.
But by 2011 usage had begun to fall off, and BlackPlanet was no longer among the top 15 social networks according to eBizMBA. Observers began to suggest that the demise of the social network appeared imminent as "BlackPlanet [fell] to the wayside," replaced by other networks that began "taking up the social network mantle."[6]
BlackPlanet introduced a free mobile app in 2009 called BlackPlanetMobile.[7] BlackPlanet Text Alerts also became available to alert users of updates and notifications.
BlackPlanet also developed twointeractive games for users,Farmandia andFishdom.
Farmandia's similarities to Facebook'sFarmville did not go unnoticed by BlackPlanet users, who pointed out the need for improvement of the site'sinfrastructure and principal features such as user chat rather than the introduction of games.[7]
In October 2011, an anonymous model filed a federal lawsuit against BlackPlanet.com regarding a 2007 incident in which she was drugged and raped by two men who met the woman through the website. The two men (40-year-old Lavont Flanders, Jr. and 45-year-old Emerson Callum) were convicted by a federal jury in Miami in December 2011 of multiple sex-related and conspiracy charges and were sentenced to life in prison.[8][9] The woman alleges that BlackPlanet.com "failed to warn women about the dangers of sexual predators". The site's parent company told the Miami Herald it "vehemently" denies the allegations.[10][11]
In 2007, BlackPlanet was featured in the press whenthe Pentagon banned it, as well as other sites, on theU.S. Department of Defense network in order to free up bandwidth,[12] suggesting high usage levels. Other banned sites included: filecabi.com,Hi5,iFilm,Metacafe,MTV.com,Myspace,Pandora Radio,Photobucket,StupidVideos, andYouTube.[13]The Defense network contains more than 15,000 local and regional networks and more than five million computers in the grid.[citation needed]
BlackPlanet gained considerable publicity when SenatorBarack Obama began using the site on October 5, 2007, during his presidential campaign bid. Within 10 days, he had gained nearly 200,000 friends. In an online poll conducted by the site, over 2/3 of BlackPlanet's online community stated their intention to vote in the 2008 election.[14] The media perceived this participation in a niche social networking tool to be a "smart move" by the Senator.[citation needed] On March 30, 2011, President Obama had 450,579 friends on BlackPlanet. The page continues to be updated with regular blog posts, but does not feature recent status updates.[citation needed]
BlackPlanet Rising is a BlackPlanet users community project set up by the website to encourage community support and services by its members. As part of their mission they aim to motivate and involve individuals to participate in civic engagement.[15] BlackPlanet Rising hosts a blog which contains posts from BlackPlanet users. Featured authors are highlighted along with their contributions to the site.[citation needed]
BlackPlanet Rising works with a charitable organization calledDonorsChoose, which connects users to offer donations of critical resources, such as books, supplies, computers, field trips and guest speakers to public schools. The choice of donations and projects to support is available through BlackPlanet Rising and DonorsChoose. "Double Your Impact" support programs involve BlackPlanet Rising's matching user donations.
BlackPlanet Rising's Giving page via DonorsChoose had reached $11,023 donated by 36 donors, reaching 5,190 students in April 2011.[16]
Past events organised by BlackPlanet Rising include fundraisers for earthquake and tsunami relief projects, volunteer drives for causes such as homelessness, and the launch of TelAfric at the Houston Museum of African American Culture, March 2011.[citation needed]
BlackPlanet Rising's VolunteerMatch site matches user's locations with volunteer opportunities in their area. They quoteBarack Obama's election as President as a call for users to "bring a new energy and agenda to our country".[17]
Volunteer opportunities include educational programs, health programs, social rights programs and other opportunities to support one's community.
The BlackPlanet Rising community campaign has identified a "Riser of the Month" since September 2010. These are often political and social advocates, and community activists who support the African-American community. The website contains a feature article on the individual chosen each month.[18] Risers of the Month include: