We talk a lot on here about “big sites” or “big brands” and what they are doing on the web.  We do keep an eye out for smaller start-ups that are doing their thing, and there have been quite a few popping up lately (or that we have been taking notice of lately), so we decided make a quick list of the ones that we think are “ones to watch”.

5.  BlackBottom.com

BlackBottom.com could easily be called a “Black YouTube.”  While the site upgrades continuously one feature that I particularly like (outside of the funny videos I often find there) is their mash-up with Google Maps.

4.  BrokenCurve

While I just came across this company recently I would liken it to an “Urban” Brightcove.  The company as a whole offers a variety of service though the most interesting and impressive is their video platform.  Not only do they have their own destination, BrokenCurve.tv, they are responsible for powering video on various other sites as well.

3.  eVIPlist.com

You are probably already familiar with this site, and you should be.  The social bookmarking site popular among bloggers and event promoters was literally neck-in-neck with another frequented social bookmarking site up until June.  More on that later.  What is most interesting about eVIPlist is the novelty of use social bookmarking in a new way thus essentially making it a new tool and making people take notice.

2.  Yoonew.com

Yoonew is like the stock market for sporting event tickets.  They call themselves and “electronic exchange” versus an e-commerce play because the prices of tickets reflect true market vaue in real-time.  Interesting right?  You can read more on how it works here.  How is this Black?  Well…it isn’t but it is owned by CEO Gerry Wilson who is and you know we love to support.

1.  BlackObserver.com

While the site has not officially launched yet, Ben Wilson the sites founder was kind enough to give me a sneak peek.  Out of all the many sites that exist for the African-American community that revolve around news and information I can say he’s got it right.  Hopefully we can get a Black Web 2.0 official sneak peek before the site launches.

You will notice we don’t really have any content sites on the list.  Each of the sites included use technology to support the content, transactions, or interactions that are core to their product.  These are our “Top 5″ what are yours?