Black Web 2.0

Those of us who couldn’t make it to this years Essence Festival we’re in luck!  Essence will broadcast live over the next 3 days from their Music Festival in New Orleans.  Definitely a smart and good look for Essence.  The partnership is with iClips.net and will feature behind the scenes interviews as well as live streams of performances from the festival.  The broadcast schedule is: (more…)

Microsoft throws it’s weight behind Semantic light weight, POWERSET.COM
Powerset has been closely watched as a potential challenger to Google because of its search engine’s ability to understand both the meaning of search queries and the language of a Web page in order to match the two together. Google has generally eschewed natural-language search in favor of its search engine based on search keywords.

http://www.powerset.com
http://www.microsoft.com (more…)

San Francisco, Seesmic Says ‘Why Not?’ To $6M More
Just four months after closing its Series A funding, video chat company Seesmic Inc. has raised $6 million in Series B financing from E-Bay Co Founders “Omidyar Network” and Wellington Partners.
http://www.seesmic.com

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BET Webtools is a self-serve, grab-tool utility providing easy copy and paste functionality to help you obtain graphic elements. For banners, select the size that best fits your design. Once you’ve made a selection, “Copy” the related HTML below the banner. “Paste” the code in the appropriate location within your Website. Repeat for related captions.

Hmmmm.  I tried out a few of these slick-just-so-happen-to-be-IAB-standard graphics (see above).  BET could not possibly be trying to pimp peoples websites/pages/profiles/whatever with ads for FREE.  I must say I was impressed with the whole shebang until I saw this, I had already had my pick of the litter of widgets ready to go: (more…)

Do you remember when Tamayra Gray was up-and coming?

“A new, musical mini-version of Romeo and Juliet, directed by super-hot fashion photographer David LaChapelle is available for viewing online, only at the H&M website. Featuring Mary J. Blige, “American Idol” staring Tamyra Gray, and up-and coming dancer Gus Carr, the six-minute film was launched earlier this month to kick-off H&M’s fall jeans marketing campaign.”

I wrote that back in 2005, when I was a trend reporter for an international multicultural marketing firm looking for web trends. The microsite was hot. I found myself going back over and over again, sitting through a 6 minute flash page without hitting skip just to hear the music. At the time, it was innovative and enticing. However, while designers, developers and actionscripters try to force feed content down the throats of their audience through elaborate microsites with splash pages that have long since lost the ability to do anything awe inspiring (featuring been there done that interactivity that doesn’t really give any relevant information) I find myself asking, is the microsite dead?

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At first glance eVIPlist.com may look like another Digg clone. While the site does use Digg’s open API its business and web strategy is far from the typical “rank news/info” model that we typically see from other sites using the same API. While similarities can certainly be found between eVIPlist.com and other sites such as GlobalGrind.com, a deeper look into the content will show otherwise.

eVIPlist’s content appeals to a “party-goer” demographic…I should say more of a XXL magazine type of audience. More importantly what also sets eVIPlist apart from other sites we have seen launched lately is its longevity. The site has actually been around since the web 1.0 days but in a different format, it launched under this domain in early 2001. Originally the site was a social network that was hugely popular in the Washington DC metro area, in this state the site connected party goers and successfully bridged the online/offline gap in that area. Most of you know that I am orginally from the DC area so I must say that the site in general holds a soft spot in my heart (I truly miss DC and was a member of the site nearly since its launch).

Anyway, the reason I write this is not because I endear DC; or to compare it to GlobalGrind.com and other sites; or even to review it (Urban 2.0 gave a good review over on their site). I write this to take a deeper look at how offline activites such as events and user generated content can feed off of each other sucessfully at a local and national level within the urban online space. (more…)

Back in April, on RushmoreDrive, I wrote What Does 50 Cent Know About Social Media?. I didn’t have the space to do a real analysis of the efforts there, but there are other sites that have dug in a little deeper, such as ReadWriteWeb and even the Tech Observer blog over at Portfolio in 50 Cent and the Path to Niche Social Networking.

Of all the analyses out there, I find Michael Miraflor’s, How 50 Cent Uses Online Video to Build Brand Loyalty, over at ClickZ the most compelling.
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These days it seems like it is hard to get away from all the talk about Radio One’s interactive play. This weekend was no exception, while visiting family in the DC area I opened the Business section of Monday’s Washington Post and what do you know! Another story about Radio One, this article took a much more insightful spin on all the buzz the company has been getting. It focused on its stock prices and executive compensation instead…or at least that is what stood out most to me. In an article by Washington Post staff writer Anita Huslin titled “Radio One CEO Prepares for Shareholders” many intriguing statements were made by Alfred Liggins III, some of which include: (more…)

Interactive One, the digital division of Radio One, has announced a 5 year multi-million dollar advertising deal with AllHipHop.com, the top online destination for Hip-Hop news. AllHipHop now joins the recently acquired Blackplanet.com, and Interactive One’s collection of web properties, including Newsone.com, Tvone, Giantmag.com, and 50+ urban radio station websites across the country, creating one of the largest online advertising networks targeting African-American consumers.

“We firmly believe that the future for the African-American consumer and those dedicated to communicating with them is in new media, and as such, this relationship extends our commitment to being the online leader in the African-American space,” said Alfred Liggins III, CEO of Radio One, Inc. “Our relationship with AllHipHop.com is another example of our ability to enable blue chip advertisers to reach African-Americans online, whether it is across social networks, online news outlets, or digital content providers. AllHipHop.com is the leading site for all things relating to hip hop and their editorial vision and product innovation is a great complement to our sales and marketing expertise.”

This deal makes Interactive One the exclusive sales agent for AllHipHop.com, who as you may recall has had an arduous past relationship with internet ad sales. AHH will now leverage Interactive One’s sales staff and relationships with advertisers, allowing them to focus on building upon their brand. In return Interactive One’s combined online reach will now exceed more than 4 million (mostly African-American) unique users and over 500 million monthly page views instantly making them one of the top players in the African-American Internet advertising space.

Source: TechWhack

Today Carol’s Daughter conducted a bloggers roundtable on Ustream in lieu of a press conference, bloggers and influencer’s were invited to participate, Black Web 2.0 was fortunate to be one of the participants. (more…)