By Kevin RossCEO of 3BAAS Media Group
There was a period not long ago when select media outlets single-handedly shepherded how society obtained and reported news about people of color.
That train has left the station.
A cacophony of unbridled voices like Southern, lesbian, political commentator Pam Spaulding of Pam’s House Blend; Shawn Williams of Dallas South Blog; Afronerd; and bi-racial writer Liza Sabater of Culture Kitchen, have jumped the tracks, stopping traffic on the information superhighway in ways no one could have predicted.
Since Dec. 17, 1997, when the term "weblog" was used to describe a list of links "logged" on one person’s Internet wanderings, the Black online blogging community has been blazing a trail for those completely oblivious to the limitless opportunities available in cyberspace.
Dubbed the “Digital Renaissance Movement”, never before have the shackles of a rich, yet painful past been so rusted and non-encompassing. Collectively, technology has freed Black people, making data of and about African-Americans infinitely more accessible to millions of people all around the world.
The timing couldn’t be better.
A recent Radio One study about African Americans and the so-called digital divide shows that minorities are not as behind as once was thought. About 68% of blacks spend time online, the survey found, compared with 70% of all Americans.
And as more blacks become less apoplectic about using computers to maintain community, companies seeking to reach these online consumers are turning to tech-savvy entities that recognize the value of reaching people through traditional and non-traditional means.
Take for example the Farmers Insurance Group Angel City Classic being held in the Los Angeles Coliseum on September 27. Besides adding a music concert to turn-out over 70,000 people, producers also decided that the event needed an Internet strategy. As a result, Web coordinator extraordinaire Isidra Person Lynn, Hollywood’s Tri Destined Studios, and 3BAAS Media Group were all retained to promote the annual football match-up differently than had been done in previous years.
“In order for young people to discover the experience and give academic achievement its due, we had to go viral,” says John Fleming III, COO of Black Educational Events, LLC (B.E.E.) which showcases the importance of pursuing higher education at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) through producing the Classic.
“I am convinced that adding blogs, e-blasts and video to our previous efforts, similar to the presidential campaign Barack Obama has launched, is the most effective way to reach our core demographic,” Fleming added.
The shifting paradigm is obvious.
"Overall technology employment is up in America and the wages associated with it are up," said John McCarthy, a vice president with Forrester Research. This stands in stark contrast with reports from the Labor Department indicating that companies slashed their payrolls by 84,000 jobs last month, sending the country's unemployment rate to 6.1 percent from 5.7 percent in July.
In an otherwise anemic economy having a disproportional impact on black businesses, church tithing and the survival of community based organizations, Internet advertising has risen 20% in the U.S.
When it was incorporated on Sept. 7, 1998, Google started with four computers, an initial investment of $100,000, and a belief that with a little ingenuity, one Internet search engine could change the world.
Today the financial behemoth has close to a $150 billion market value, almost 20,000 employees, current market share of 78.4 percent, and a $4.85 billion profit during the past four quarters.
The emergence of new technologies, such as the growing numbers accessing information from their mobile phones, will soon allow you to lock the front door of your home while you're away, or even listen to Internet radio shows in your vehicle.
With Web traffic having increased 53 percent from mid-2007, it’s understandable why bloggers African American Political Pundit, Jasmyne Cannick, Raw Dawg Buffalo, Field Negro and Young, Black and Fabulous see themselves as pioneers committed to ensuring that blacks have control over their own content.
Whether it’s Hurricane or earthquakes, Jena 6, politics or the Darfur crisis, African Americans are also getting assistance from social networking tools such as Myspace, Facebook, Youtube, Skype, Blogtalkradio, and the latest craze, Twitter. How are they doing this? By speaking passionately to power, racism, and yes, even sometimes meaningless pop culture. Whether it’s through their unique perspectives or by breaking stories, the powerful cultural hammer they’re yielding though their expanding audiences can not be denied.
Even more amazing is that these bloggers have grown organically, propelled by word of mouth versus print or electronic media anointing. With limitless open source data, the Internet has made the world less reliant on ordained “experts” or “pundits” simply because they travel in the right circles.
When the Democrats recently held there national party convention, seven bloggers dubbed ”The Denver 7” made history by being the first independent group of black bloggers to actually obtain media credentials to cover the event.
What each of them did wasn’t exactly complicated. They felt they had something to say so they registered for a free blog, started writing, obtained a dedicated following, and applied to become apart of the pool of political bloggers.
Unhappy about not getting that book published or your business up and running? Is your radio career not skyrocketing through the roof? Now, there’s no excuse. The Denver 7, which includes Gina McCauley of What About Our Daughters, Baratunde Thurston of Jack & Jill Politics, and Oliver Willis, are living proof that the Internet has emancipated us all.
Still not convinced? Consider the 1st Annual “Blogging While Brown” conference in held this past July. The historic conference held in Atlanta served its initial objective, which was bringing together a cadre of blacks who have mastered the intricate dance of pursuing journalistic integrity, monetizing their efforts and bringing social change through cyber-networking.
Demonstrating the power of vision and solidarity, the conference proved that blacks are capable of flexing their collective online muscle. Something that is not done enough, despite the fact that the African-American community -- a consumer segment that represents 13% of the U.S. population, has spending power that in 2007 reached $845 billion. And that figure is expected to leap to more than $1.1 trillion by 2012, according to the University of Georgia's Selig Center for Economic Growth.
African countries, as well as places in the Caribbean and the UK, are also interested in news and information coming out of the U.S. And with Hollywood also aggressively looking for digital content, it’s a no-brainer that Blacks are capable of providing material that can be profitable across the board.
Celebrating the 45th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech and the historical nature of Barack Obama’s presidential campaign and its use of technology, a case can be made that the mountaintop is clearly within our reach.
So please remain seated at the front of the bus folks. We’re almost there!
That train has left the station.
A cacophony of unbridled voices like Southern, lesbian, political commentator Pam Spaulding of Pam’s House Blend; Shawn Williams of Dallas South Blog; Afronerd; and bi-racial writer Liza Sabater of Culture Kitchen, have jumped the tracks, stopping traffic on the information superhighway in ways no one could have predicted.
Since Dec. 17, 1997, when the term "weblog" was used to describe a list of links "logged" on one person’s Internet wanderings, the Black online blogging community has been blazing a trail for those completely oblivious to the limitless opportunities available in cyberspace.
Dubbed the “Digital Renaissance Movement”, never before have the shackles of a rich, yet painful past been so rusted and non-encompassing. Collectively, technology has freed Black people, making data of and about African-Americans infinitely more accessible to millions of people all around the world.
The timing couldn’t be better.
A recent Radio One study about African Americans and the so-called digital divide shows that minorities are not as behind as once was thought. About 68% of blacks spend time online, the survey found, compared with 70% of all Americans.
And as more blacks become less apoplectic about using computers to maintain community, companies seeking to reach these online consumers are turning to tech-savvy entities that recognize the value of reaching people through traditional and non-traditional means.
Take for example the Farmers Insurance Group Angel City Classic being held in the Los Angeles Coliseum on September 27. Besides adding a music concert to turn-out over 70,000 people, producers also decided that the event needed an Internet strategy. As a result, Web coordinator extraordinaire Isidra Person Lynn, Hollywood’s Tri Destined Studios, and 3BAAS Media Group were all retained to promote the annual football match-up differently than had been done in previous years.
“In order for young people to discover the experience and give academic achievement its due, we had to go viral,” says John Fleming III, COO of Black Educational Events, LLC (B.E.E.) which showcases the importance of pursuing higher education at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) through producing the Classic.“I am convinced that adding blogs, e-blasts and video to our previous efforts, similar to the presidential campaign Barack Obama has launched, is the most effective way to reach our core demographic,” Fleming added.
The shifting paradigm is obvious.
"Overall technology employment is up in America and the wages associated with it are up," said John McCarthy, a vice president with Forrester Research. This stands in stark contrast with reports from the Labor Department indicating that companies slashed their payrolls by 84,000 jobs last month, sending the country's unemployment rate to 6.1 percent from 5.7 percent in July.
In an otherwise anemic economy having a disproportional impact on black businesses, church tithing and the survival of community based organizations, Internet advertising has risen 20% in the U.S.
When it was incorporated on Sept. 7, 1998, Google started with four computers, an initial investment of $100,000, and a belief that with a little ingenuity, one Internet search engine could change the world.
Today the financial behemoth has close to a $150 billion market value, almost 20,000 employees, current market share of 78.4 percent, and a $4.85 billion profit during the past four quarters.
The emergence of new technologies, such as the growing numbers accessing information from their mobile phones, will soon allow you to lock the front door of your home while you're away, or even listen to Internet radio shows in your vehicle.
With Web traffic having increased 53 percent from mid-2007, it’s understandable why bloggers African American Political Pundit, Jasmyne Cannick, Raw Dawg Buffalo, Field Negro and Young, Black and Fabulous see themselves as pioneers committed to ensuring that blacks have control over their own content.
Whether it’s Hurricane or earthquakes, Jena 6, politics or the Darfur crisis, African Americans are also getting assistance from social networking tools such as Myspace, Facebook, Youtube, Skype, Blogtalkradio, and the latest craze, Twitter. How are they doing this? By speaking passionately to power, racism, and yes, even sometimes meaningless pop culture. Whether it’s through their unique perspectives or by breaking stories, the powerful cultural hammer they’re yielding though their expanding audiences can not be denied.
Even more amazing is that these bloggers have grown organically, propelled by word of mouth versus print or electronic media anointing. With limitless open source data, the Internet has made the world less reliant on ordained “experts” or “pundits” simply because they travel in the right circles.
When the Democrats recently held there national party convention, seven bloggers dubbed ”The Denver 7” made history by being the first independent group of black bloggers to actually obtain media credentials to cover the event.
What each of them did wasn’t exactly complicated. They felt they had something to say so they registered for a free blog, started writing, obtained a dedicated following, and applied to become apart of the pool of political bloggers.
Unhappy about not getting that book published or your business up and running? Is your radio career not skyrocketing through the roof? Now, there’s no excuse. The Denver 7, which includes Gina McCauley of What About Our Daughters, Baratunde Thurston of Jack & Jill Politics, and Oliver Willis, are living proof that the Internet has emancipated us all.
Still not convinced? Consider the 1st Annual “Blogging While Brown” conference in held this past July. The historic conference held in Atlanta served its initial objective, which was bringing together a cadre of blacks who have mastered the intricate dance of pursuing journalistic integrity, monetizing their efforts and bringing social change through cyber-networking.
Demonstrating the power of vision and solidarity, the conference proved that blacks are capable of flexing their collective online muscle. Something that is not done enough, despite the fact that the African-American community -- a consumer segment that represents 13% of the U.S. population, has spending power that in 2007 reached $845 billion. And that figure is expected to leap to more than $1.1 trillion by 2012, according to the University of Georgia's Selig Center for Economic Growth.
African countries, as well as places in the Caribbean and the UK, are also interested in news and information coming out of the U.S. And with Hollywood also aggressively looking for digital content, it’s a no-brainer that Blacks are capable of providing material that can be profitable across the board.
Celebrating the 45th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech and the historical nature of Barack Obama’s presidential campaign and its use of technology, a case can be made that the mountaintop is clearly within our reach.
So please remain seated at the front of the bus folks. We’re almost there!