The Internet has been buzzing about the possible demise of Global Grind, the Digg-like Social bookmarking site targeting an urban audience. It’s unclear whether or not the rumors will be confirmed, but as one of only a few venture capitalist funded websites targeting an urban niche, I wonder what impact Global Grind’s failure could have on the urban web space.
Innovation is an integral part of the growth of the urban niche web space, but most of the websites targeting the urban audience are pure content plays. Hate them or love them, Global Grind has been one of only a few innovations in the space (maybe not innovative in terms of technology, but none the less innovative in the space and the way content is distributed to a niche audience). As questions loom over Global Grind’s possible failure, what does this mean for innovation in this niche? My concern is that GG’s failure will be blamed on the niche versus the execution. Perception is sometimes reality, and if the market prescribes to the idea that the niche is not ready for innovation, then independent entrepreneurs and large corporations will not invest the time, effort, and dollars into innovative concepts for the urban niche.
Anyone who has ever “shopped” an urban or black targeted site for venture capital funding will surely tell you that it’s no easy task. As one of the few venture capitalist funded sites targeting an urban audience, GG’s failure could dry up an already scarce VC market in this urban niche.
Source:
ProHipHop
May 27th, 2008 at 8:47 pm
I don’t think so… Should GlobalGrind fail, this does not indicate a lack of the viability of urban focused websites… it simply means that the urban audience is not interested in “Grinding” content…. yet. I’m by no means the Black Mike Arrington… so take my feedback with a grain of salt… but I see a couple of areas the GG should be focusing.
1. GG needs partners… They need to at least be reaching out to urban content sites and finding some way to integrate “Grind” buttons within those partner’s sites… Perhaps they are doing this, if so, I haven’t seen.
2. GG’s interface is not the most user friendly. The page feels confusing (and fatiguing). I’m really into social news sites…. but haven’t whipped up the “energy” to try to figure out their interface.
3. Adding a bookmarklet to your browser takes too much time “period”. The need to implement a “One Button Solution” like StumbleUpon.
4. They need an additional marketing outlet that engages the urban community. A Podcast would do the trick…. This would spread awareness and build loyalty around their brand…
I think this is more of an execution issue, than anything else. At least, that’s my two cents.
May 27th, 2008 at 9:22 pm
Great post…
There have been many failures in the urban space….From HBO’s volume.com (recently relaunched as a vestibule of music connected to HBO’s music), to COX’s BlackFamilies.com (old school — remember that metoric rise and fall — the staff had a full featurette in jet magazine — that was huge for the time), to 360HipHop, to Africana.com.
Even outside of those early run ventures — you still have companies like RushMoreDrive, TheRoot, and others popping up with major company pushes behind them. Most of these will fail as well…and it definitely is because of a lack of execution and poor financial planning for the most part
Hispanic is the flavor of the minute when it comes to multicultural marketing. They are breeding like hotcakes and will surpass AA numbers real soon…also i think there is a purveying since of good ole boy racism that makes agencies favor hispanic over black in multicultural (even though hispanics are growing at a huge pace in number — blacks are evolving big time in affluence, education, etc)
The reason im saying this is that more than ever companies are looking to diversify their portfolios and multicultural will always be a viable market to enter.
My 64 cents
May 28th, 2008 at 12:29 am
@J. Lee Gainy, thanks for the comments, I agree with you about GG needing additional marketing outlets as well as content partnerships. Not sure how extensive their partnerships would be or are but I would hope they encompass more than just button integration. Also we actually have GG buttons on every post right next to StumbleUpon, Digg, ect. so I know that they have rolled this out but the question remains, do people use the buttons to actually Grind content while digesting it? It is definitely a habit that is learned so I imagine that may take some time and patience with users.
@MrMecca, agreed multicultural will always be a viable market to enter. Also are 360HipHop and Africana actually considered failures, those company’s both sold to larger organizations. 360 IMO was a move to buy out competition while Africana was totally rebranded into what it has evolved into today.
May 28th, 2008 at 2:04 am
“The Internet has been buzzing about the possible demise of Global Grind, the Digg-like Social bookmarking site targeting an urban audience.”
Any links? Identified a starting point for those rumors?
May 28th, 2008 at 2:05 am
Hey, here’s one!
http://www.prohiphop.com/2008/05/rumor-global–1.html
May 28th, 2008 at 6:16 am
mmm…not sure one bad apple spoils the bunch (to borrow from the Osmonds). Venture Capital firms expect a third of the companies they invest in to fail, a third to fall below expectations and the last third to meet expectations - expectations of usually 6-10times the money invested. For VC’s it’s all about the benjamins baby (to borrow from Diddy)
I think the problem with a lot of BLACK (I hate the word urban) sites is that we lack ambition. Black people are not a minority…we are not a niche. We are not a niche in terms of numbers or the influence we have on popular culture. There are more people of African origin on the planet than of European origin. Anyway that aside…many sites out there are “ME TOO’s” . They offer what everyone else is offering no more, no less. I can do “blogs”..ME TOO, I can share “Photos”…ME TOO. Nothing that changes the game.
We change the game in so many other areas like in music…but when it comes to technology and the internet we seem lost for ideas. HIPHOP was like nothing else, and today it’s influence has changed the world. It was invented by black people.
Likewise we should concentrate on developing business models that change the landscape and take the competition to the Facebooks’ and Googles of this world.
We shouldn’t be looking just to build black/urban versions of Facebook/Digg…these already exist and they will always do better than latecomers to the market.
Technology provides us with so many new opportunities, we are connected in so many different and interesting ways. We need to use that to build innovative business that we can take to the world, like we did HIPHOP…it doesnt matter if you are black or white (to borrow from MJ) the effect of your business on people should be the same…awesome….Come up with such ideas and any VC will back you…Sh*T I’ll back you.
May 28th, 2008 at 7:57 am
@ Clyde Yes I believe that is where Markus pulled from an must have forgotten to credit the source. Hope you know it is no intentional disrespect :), we love you site! Markus is on vacay which is why I am responding on his behalf.
Another source which also pulled directly from you Clyde was Urban 2.0.
May 28th, 2008 at 11:25 am
There are many problems with Global Grind. How are they getting the word out for one? I watched Runs House and saw that sad attempt at promotion, most of the people i know didn’t even pay enuff attention to check out the site. I have not seen any promotion on the sites that the Urban audience visit. Then there is their interface, it sucks. If you are gonna be a digg copy then be a proper copy, digg has done the work for you already. And lets not forget that Digg has Kevin Rose, and internet / tech celeb that brought his fans with him and has drawn more users thru his Diggnation web show.
If i had a third of their budget i could make a digg rip off that kills what they have developed. Where is the leveraging of the Social networks, were is the video cast, were are the hyper local promotions in cites with large urban(black) bases?
The worst part of Global Grind is that they have the chance to be bigger the digg because the urban and hiphop user base is really larger then the tech niche that uses digg.
May 28th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
Thanks, Angela, I’m probably too paranoid for this business but I’m working on it!
I just added Urban 2.0 to my bloglines account. Thanks!
And keep up the good work. I definitely follow you guys but don’t always have comments.
May 28th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
I find this post disturbing. I gladly, manually, ping GG everytime I post on my blog. Actually if I forget to do so, I have a bad numbers day. They just opened their api to Facebook and added great new features. Getting on Facebook is like getting your video on MTV= Success! I’m not sure of the details but GG has enough eyeballs to at least get funding if not an advertising deal to hire more developers… Thanx Markus, you just saddened my day…
May 28th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
@Clyde, thanks!
@Solacetech, not sure why you took the post so personal but I do think that it poses a good question which is “IF it did fail would its failure hinder innovation and VC funding?” Don’t take this post as a bash either, if you follow this site then you should know that majority of what we report is positive and supportive however I think we always need to look at all sides. Also keep in mind any negativity in the above post is a rumor and has not been reported by us as fact.
I think issues like these are good to discuss, we can all see even from the participation on the comments on this post how passionate we all are about the web. Good stuff.
May 29th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
GlobalGrind won’t fold or fail. Neither will eVIPlist.com. eVIPlist.com is a Digg clone that happens to work with the urban market. Knowing and marketing to your audience is the key. eVIPlist.com has the advantage of being involved with the Urban market from a grass roots level, ie. “parties and special events”. This involvement allows eVIPlist.com to brand itself amongst this demographic of urban trendsetters and influencers. These individuals, especially bloggers and content publishers, accept the new 2.0 platform of sharing and aggregating urban content on eVIPlist.com and utilize the site to drive traffic to their sites. Its a win-win-win. A win for bloggers and content providers who have access to an engaged and active urban audience, a win for advertisers who want to reach this audience and a win for eVIPlist.com that facilitates the platform for this interaction.
May 30th, 2008 at 10:12 pm
I didn’t take the post as a bash,no worries there. Just as a blogger it’s hard to find sites that promote black bloggers and urban topics. That’s why I was so glad to find GG (thanx to you!), and so sad to here about it’s issues. I love your posts and the people who stay in the struggle with you!
June 2nd, 2008 at 7:20 am
I think VC will dry up for a time, but that doesn’t mean urban / black sites are doomed to fail. Most will just bootstrap things as they always have. That’s a healthy thing, really.
But maybe there *is* an issue with the niche. In order to have a successful site, you need audience and ADVERTISERS. To get the latter, you have to have the audience that advertisers want to reach.
If my online crew is any indication, the affluent urban audience are the raisins in the rice pudding at Facebook, Twitter, Pownce, Flickr,Vox, and Friendfeed. We’ve got a foot in the young(-ish) urban world, but we’re not all about hip-hop. We want smart content, smart conversations, a smart community, and some relevance to our lives. Most major urban and/or black sites don’t fit the bill IMO. And I suspect this focus on a single definition of urbanity and a single definition of blackness is the reason.