RushmoreDrive Expands Editoral Content
by Markus Robinson
RushmoreDrive, the search engine for the Black community, recently announced that Dr. Nsenga Burton will head up their editorial team. Dr. Burton brings with her over ten years of experience in journalism and new media to RushmoreDrive’s current editorial offerings; The Daily Drive and Detour.
Nsenga has already hit the ground running, creating a new CNN-like series called Defining Black. The series of articles are an attempt to explore what it means to be Black in America from a variety of perspectives. Below is an excerpt of some the topics covered in this series.
Chris Wilder takes us through a day in the life of a Black man that is filled with constant suspicion and rejection. Business contributor Philana Patterson discusses how our spending habits and saving non-habits early in life impact us later in life. She also takes us on her journey to decide whether to attend an HBCU and the stressors that young Black folks face in making that decision.
RushmoreDrive has slowly started to make original content a larger part of their core business, originally launching with Detour; an editorial section covering a range of current events and their most recent launch of their opinion blog entitled “The Daily Drive”. If you recall during our interview with RushmoreDrive’s CEO Johnny Taylor (3:55) stated that, “….we are not entering this space as a competitor to any of the black websites…”. It seems to me that with the hire of their new editorial director, and the expansion of their editorial offerings it seems like RD is now more than ever in competition with content producers. But what is not yet clear is whether or not the new editorial offering is an attempt to introduce readers to their search engine, or if it’s an attempt to gain impressions until their search engine catches on. Either way it’s an interesting shift.
Category: Strategy, web 2.0 | Tags: daily drive, editorial content, johnny taylor, nsenga burton, rushmore, rushmore drive, rushmore drive strategyDid you like this article? Share It!
Siddiq Bello says:
I hope they paid you for the ad.
A weak search engine hires an editorial director to post news stories!?? Doesnt that seem a bit silly. Its a search engine, shouldn’t it be able to SEARCH for the most relevant stories? Shouldnt they hire a few enginers and researchers able to write the algorithm to find the most interesting stories? Maybe a bit like, I dont know… Google News?
I get that there needs to be a balance between bashing these sites and promoting them, but posting warmed over press release?! Have the courage to say Rushmore Drive is garbage compared to other options. Because we all know they are and not saying make you look beholden to them. Like Global Grind, changing their model every other month in a vain search for a business strategy that catches on, Rushmore Dr is on the fast track to the Internet deadpool.
Rushmore Drive has no clue what it is, who it’s for or how to deliver a service that anyone (besides non-internet using southern church goers) cares about. In that context hiring an HBCU film professor seems more like an act of desperation then a sound strategy.
Angela says:
Thanks for the comment Siddiq!
I hardly think it is an advertisement or even a “warmed over press release” compared to the actual release: http://www.targetmarketnews.com/storyid07290802.htm
Regardless, we will always welcome the comments and opinions of our readers
. Our posts are only part of what really makes Black Web 2.0 what it is, comments from smart readers such as yourself make up the other part. Thanks again!
Dede says:
Siddiq! You are a mess…lol
Siddiq Bello says:
Angela,
You are right, I was a bit harsh. The press release has this inane bit of fluffery from Dr. Burton:
“Through technological means, RushmoreDrive.com is changing the way that people search, think and dream.”
I for one know that my dreams sure have changed since Rushmore Dr launched. I now dream of the day when media companies STOP giving money to any music/magazine executive with a plan to SAVE black people with their crappy content. I dream that you can no longer get a company to fork over money for any stupid idea and sub-par product so long as it targets black people online.
I dream of one of these company executives actually understanding how to define the ontology, create the algorithm or heck even post to their blog for themselves. Yeah I know its a lot to dream of but now thanks to Rushmore Drive I can dream big.
Ruth says:
Disappointed to see another black blog that looks like it has not done its home work — you cannot subscribe to it in the google reader at least.
IAC’s RushmoreDrive.com Is it Over? | Black Web 2.0 says:
[...] July of 2008 RushmoreDrive tried their hand in the editorial space with the hiring of Nsenga Burton to serve as the Editorial Director to lead their two content offerings Detour and Daily Drive. Detour was last update yesterday [...]