Search News: Black and White and Read All Over? Is Blackbird the Way to Niche Content?
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Written By Noah Mallin | December 8, 2008 | Share This
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40A today rolled out Blackbird, a new web browser aimed at African Americans. It’s built atop Mozilla’s platform and the general controls and layout will feel familiar to anyone who has used Firefox. Where Google’s web browser, Chrome, was designed to display the absence of the shiny baubles and navigation aids from which it’s name is derived, Blackbird embraces a relatively busy array of buttons.
There is a news ticker that runs news pulled via RSS from black news sites, dedicated buttons that lead to e-mail and social media sites (though these are not pre-loaded) a dedicated video button with content from black video sharing sites and room to add custom links and a “Give Back” button that leads to charitable causes.
There is also the ability, once you log into Blackbird’s social network, to share content – though you don’t have to be logged in to see the top shared articles by category.
After checking out Blackbird the question that I had was simple: is a browser the best way to go after a niche audience? In other words, Can the way you get online really reflect and direct where you go once you are there? In some ways this is a look into what Google is trying to learn with Chrome – what is the chicken/egg relationship between browser and website?
After all, Google’s search engine is becoming more and more personalized to an extent that transcends boundaries of race. Over the next few years we expect it to continue to tailor search results to the individual’s interests to an increasingly fine-tuned degree. More to the point, there are many niche social media sites that are easily navigated to and bookmarked from any browser or search engine.
Blackbird seems to acknowledge this by integrating their own social media with the share buttons and by setting up a specific “Social Networks” navigation button. There’s also their integrated “Black Search” tool, which is a custom version of Google’s search. As you can see below though, the customized algorithm still leaves much to be desired in how it weights and sorts results for its perceived audience.
The most interesting part of Blackbird might be the advertising component built in to the browser. When users go to the Most Shared tab there is a bottom ‘sponsored by’ window that already runs small banners for Essence among others. There is also marketing value in the preloaded websites and RSS feeds which could be a boon to black online publishers and aggregators.
In total this is most reminiscent of AOL. If Blackbird is the browser for African Americans than AOL is the browser for older Americans, one of the few groups that seems to find their portal to be a useful navigational tool.
The underlying issue, and what has helped to hurt AOL, is that niche audiences don’t need a browser to show them where the content is. Their search engines do that already, and with greater control and precision. Add that to the fact that few people venture beyond whatever browser is preloaded with their computer. The number of African American’s that are likely to venture off the beaten path to download browser software becomes a niche within a niche.
With all that in mind Blackbird is an interesting experiment, but one that is likely to fail.
Topics: Advertising: Online, browsers |
A browser for a niche audience based on race? I had no idea and am surprised! Given that we, as a culture, are supposed to be drawing together, I was floored to see that their site says:
“…85% of African Americans prefer online news and information from the Black perspective.”
Modifying one’s search terms modifies results and provides perspective. You’re right. Is a browser needed to do that?
Thanks for the post and latest news. Good analysis.
What is this world coming to???
@ Dana Lookadoo
I wonder where their statistic comes from? I’m not sure if there is any such thing as a single “Black” perspective anymore. I see such a diversity of ideas within different communities that I think it’s faulty to assume that a single source - whether it be a browser or website or search engine - can be representative of millions of people. Thanks for the comment!
I know my comment wont be published but noah you present a one sided argument, I wonder what your thoughts are on the all caucasoid basketball team, of a so called “whites only” golf park, yet you attack the African American community with such vigor for what ? a web browser its a shame small minded imbeciles such as yourselves still exist hopefully in the future genetics will advance enough to not make defects such as yourself.
@mike I don’t think “the African American community” invented this browser, I think it was created with the best of intentions by a group of individuals. I’m sorry if the underlying meaning of the article was unclear but the point I was making is that people of all backgrounds and interests are able to find the information that is most relevant to them through search engines rather than relying on a portal to curate that for them. It may in fact be that some users find that the browser is giving them exactly what they are looking for but I don’t believe that is because the information doesn’t exist online already. I don’t think the analogy to racially segregated facilities is an apt one. I think people should have equal access to information not just regardless of race and gender but also regardless of economic ability as well so the last thing I would want to see is segregated portals, engines, or browsers. I hope that clears up any confusion.