Was 2011 the year of Black digital domination? From “Black Twitter” to black tech entrepreneurship, 2011 was the year that black influence on all things digital blew into the mainstream.

Digital events like the fight to prevent Troy Davis’ execution and CNN’sBlack in America also confirmed that the black “digital divide” could no longer be ignored. President Barack Obama began the year with a broadband initiative to close the digital divide and the inequality between groups in their access to technology. By the end of the year, however, it was evident that the “digital divide,” would be closed quicker through African-Americans themselves rather than through government intervention.

According to digital entrepreneur and social media advocate Wayne Sutton, 2011 was the year that African-American use of social networks went mainstream. Not only did African-Americans use social networks more but their usage seeped into mainstream America. Sutton attributes this to black media outlets’ adoption of social media and to the proliferation of social networking on mobile phones by African-Americans.

Read the rest of this article at Loop 21

I’m sure a lot of people have seen the new Best Buy commercial about their new Buy Back Program due to technology moving so quickly. It’s actually pretty hilarious, showing people purchasing new technology devices such as phones, televisions, and laptops and then right after see advertisements for more updated versions.

This commericial is evidence; there is no question about it, technology is definitely moving so fast we can barely keep up. Every time you turn around it’s a newer and better version of your cell phone, laptop, etc. I agree the constant change in technology is great and exciting, but there has to be an equal medium for the people who love to have the latest, but don’t have the financial means to do so.

For example, Apple essentially will have released three versions of the iPhone in a little over a year. The iPhone 4 was released June 24 of last year, the white iPhone was released at the end of April this year and the iPhone 5 is expected to hit stores late summer. To some that may not sound like a lot but, it is when you are talking about paying hundreds and thousands of dollars each time something new hits the stores.

Just like the woman in the commercial  said that sees the billboard for a newer phone ” What the !?! “ Like seriously something new is out. It’s really funny, but I do think the new buy back system is great. It allows customers to get a percentage back on devices you don’t want any more depending on the time period you are looking to upgrade. All technology companies need to do the same, especially, companies such as Apple and mobile retailers.  For people like myself that love to have the most updated devices, it is a  fair compromise to not have to come out of your pocket in full to purchase what you want.

Yes, technology is moving at a speed of lightening, but it is what it is. We can’t slow down the people that can actually afford to keep up, but that’s not to say we can’t create outlets for others that can’t. I hope to see more programs similar to this emerge as quickly as technology is changing.

If you haven’t already, take a look at the Buy Back Program Commercial:

For more information on the Buy Back Program go to www.bestbuy.com

As African Americans continue to bridge the disparity in broadband usage and access, we’ve witnessed a number of trends that show that not only are we adopting technology, we’re beginning to dominate in usage. Blacks currently outpace other ethnic groups in mobile phone usage according to the Pew Report and now it seems online television may become the next frontier.

According to a new study titled “Multiplatform Content and Services: Multicultural Edition,” from Horowitz Associates, African Americans are now the biggest consumer of Internet TV. For those unfamilar with Horowitz, they are a leading provider of consumer research for cable operators, television networks, Internet and broadband companies to name a few. The study comprised of 1,000 survey participants nationwide that have broadband access in their homes. The report states that Asians currently lead the pack with 48% watching television online with Latinos at a close second at 46% and African Americans and Caucasians coming in with 35% each. When it comes to watching television via a handheld device the numbers shift with 22% of Hispanics, 19% of blacks and 16% of Asians tuning in.

While alternative forms of television are being employed, it should be noted that the traditional set continues to reign supreme with 74% of blacks responding that they still watch most of their programs on a regular set. Whites and Latinos weighed in with 75% and Asians with 70% keeping it old school with the TV. It should be noted that the term “traditional set” wasn’t defined in the study, so it’s unclear where current TVs that stream online content and allow users to surf the net fall into the equation.

With the increasing popularity of online TV are minorities ready to cut their cable subscriptions? Not exactly. According to the report, only 13% of African Americans are ready to take the leap. Asians and whites were more sold on the possibility with 24% and 25% respectively. Latinos were somewhere in the middle with 18%. The tide is turning in digital’s favor according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project whose recent study shows that 65% of Internet users have paid for content with 16% paying for TV shows, movies, and videos.

As the discussion on net neutrality and equal access to high-speed Internet continues, minorities continue to make strides in closing the digital divide. According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, minorities are not only gaining access to the Web, we’re doing it without necessarily having to access a desktop or a laptop. When it comes to social media, we’re not only using it at a higher rate, but we also have a different perspective on how we engage with the technology.

According to the report, since 2000, the racial makeup of American Internet users has started to more closely resemble the offline population. In fact the amount of black and Latino users has almost doubled from 11% to 21%. In addition, increasing amounts of African Americans have broadband in their homes although whites are still leading. Blacks are also less likely to go online or own a desktop computer compared to their white counterparts.  51% of African Americans own a desktop compared to 65% of whites.

While African Americans might not being using desktops to access the Web, the mobile sector is a whole new ballgame. According to the report, Latinos and blacks are more likely to own a mobile phone than whites and outpace whites in mobile app use.

Compared with white cell phone owners, blacks and Latinos are significantly more likely to use their mobile devices to:

• Text message (70% of all African-Americans and English-speaking Latinos use text messaging, vs. just over half of whites)
• Use social networking sites
• Use the internet
• Record and watch videos
• Make a charitable donation via text message (this finding is particularly interesting since white internet users are more likely to have made a charitable donation online—25% of online whites have done so, compared with 17% of African-Americans and 14% of Latinos.)
• Use email
• Play games
• Listen to music
• Use instant messaging
• Post multimedia content online

When it comes to laptops, African Americans have recently been purchasing laptops at an increased rate. African-American laptop ownership has risen from 34% in 2009 to 51% this year.

We’ve seen recent interest in how blacks are using Twitter. The answer is a lot. Seven out of ten African Americans use social networking sites in comparison to six out of ten whites with a quarter of blacks online using Twitter. So what exactly are we doing online? Sharing information, most notably information about the latest happenings in their neighborhood. It was also noted that blacks felt that social networking sites were a good way to keep abreast of government news.

So what can we take from this report? As technology becomes more affordable and accessible, minorities are incorporating it into their lives at an encouraging rate. There are still a number of disparities, most notably in home broadband access, but hopefully as time goes on every American will have equal access to high-speed Internet and all its benefits.

Location-based services like Foursquare, Gowalla, Loopt, and MyTown are generating the same buzz that Twitter created two years ago when it was being touted as the “next big thing” in social media and online marketing.  Just like “tweet it and they will come” was a falsehood told to many business owners, creating an effective location-based services strategy for your company takes careful planning, strategy, and execution.

Step 1:  Examine Your Business

Does your business model support a location-based strategy?  If you have a physical location like a coffee shop, retail store, or restaurant, then using location based services makes sense.  However, if your are an electronic commerce service provider with no physical office, then it will be harder to make a location-based strategy work.

Step 2:  Choose Your Platform and Stick with It

Building and maintaining a location[based presence takes time so it’s best to pick one platform and stay on it to the exclusion of others.  There are two things to consider when making this decision.  First, all of the major location-based services provide the ability to import your contacts from Facebook and Twitter.  If most of your contacts are on Foursquare (which is likely since it is the largest and fastest growing location based service), then that makes it a strong candidate.  Second, examine the features that each platform offers.  Many find the gaming aspect of Foursquare to be compelling, and we’ve written about why your business should use Foursquare.  However, Loopt, though a smaller player, is trying to win the innovation game by being the first to offer background location to Apple’s iOS4.

Step 3:  Partner with Your Platform

Location-based service providers realize that partnering with the business owners of the locations people visit make their services more valuable to investors.  Therefore, many of them are actively reaching out to business owners.  Foursquare makes this easy by allowing owners to search for and claim their businesses.  MyTown is designed to let users own real world locations like movie theaters, restaurants, and shops, so it’s best to register yourself as the owner of your business as soon as possible if you want to use it as your platform.  Quickly claiming your brand on your location based platform of choice is as important as doing so on Twitter.  Once you do so, contact the service provider to determine what they can do to help your business

Step 4:  Determine Your Incentives

Foursquare makes it easy to provide incentives to your customers by providing real time stats to business owners, sending free “Check-in Here” signs for store windows, and offering pre-built specials like “Mayor Specials”, “Check-in Specials”, and “Frequency Based Specials”.  However, users of the other platforms can also create incentives with a little creativity.  For example, you can use Gowalla to create a trip that takes customers from one of your store locations to another and offer a discount or free item to those who complete it.

Location-based services offer a way to take customers from the virtual relationships you form with them on Facebook and Twitter to personal interactions in the real world.  This provides the opportunity to know your customers better and help them find, understand, and buy your products or services.

Making plans for your death is a topic most of us don’t want to think about; but understand the importance and necessity. No one wants to labor our loved ones with the task of settling our unfinished affairs in the event of an untimely death. So we reluctantly sit down with a lawyer and iron out plans to handle our finances, property and family affairs and in the end, a living will, trust, estate plan, etc. is erected to help make attending to our affairs easier for our already emotionally tasked loved ones.

What about our digital assets? Does your significant other, trusted family member, or lawyer know about your ‘digital life’ and what to do with it in your absence?

Entrustet beta attempts to answer that question by offering a range of services, starting with “Account Guardian”, a FREE, easy-to-use resource that helps you identify and record your digital assets.

Entrustet describes digital assets as:

“Any file on your computer, in a storage drive or website, and any online account or membership. Examples of files include Microsoft Word, Excel or PowerPoint documents, digital photos and videos, and digital music. Online accounts and memberships can include email accounts, social networking profiles, online digital photo accounts, banking and investment accounts, domain names and websites you own, online media subscriptions – practically anything with a unique username/password combination.”

By setting up an account, Entrustet helps you protect your digital assets by:

- Creating a secure list of digital assets
- Designate heirs and a Digital Executor
- Decide which assets are transferred to heirs and which are deleted
- Legally protect your digital assets

In addition to your online accounts/memberships, you can upload important documents to your Entrustet account to ensure they are also protected. Entrustet has also partnered up with LegalZoom to provide expertise advice, locate a lawyer, and create a will or trust if you don’t already have one.

Simply put, Entrustet gives you one place to record, organize and execute your digital life, so you can be rest assured that when you pass away, your assets are protected and your legacy is ensured. I know planning for your death can be a morbid task to tackle, but you owe it to your loved ones to have your digital in addition to your financial, physical, and intellectual affairs in order.

To find out more information about digital assets or to sign up, visit Entrustet.com

It’s no secret that all the old methods of getting content are under siege. In a video killed the radio star onslaught, the web has singlehandedly shook the music and publishing industry to their foundation. The cable companies were feeling slight tremors, but now it seems that the mild rumblings are turning into full-blown quakes. A recent  NYTimes.com article was discussing a growing anti-cable movement. People have canceled subscriptions in favor of watching programming via the web either for free or relatively cheaper than they ever could on cable.

With sites utilizing tv tuners and ingenuity to catch over the air HD signals, and open source devices like MythTV, cable is starting to look mighty expendable. And as the word spreads that it’s not that hard to set these gizmos up, the cable industry is going to have a problem. It’ll be like a digital return to the good old days where if you paid Uncle So-and-So $50, he’d shimmy up the pole and turn on the cable.  Good times, good times.

Hardware aside, the biggest threat is going to come from sites like Hulu. As the second largest provider of video content on the net, Hulu has a loyal following. Since I began living in a cable free environment, Hulu has saved me from many a night of boredom. They have a wide variety of content and best of all it’s free. Well, for now it is. There are still those pesky rumors that they are looking to institute a subscription plan. If it means access to premium channel shows, I’ll shell out the money provided it isn’t an arm and a leg.

Not to be outdone, there are reports that YouTube is looking to cut in on cable’s action as well. According to Mashable, YouTube has been researching different monetary solutions. Choices include a number of subscription models and an plan modeled after iTunes charging a fee per episode, sort of a rental business. Google’s also looking to get into the act, wanting to offer a streaming alternative.

So what options are left to cable? Basically, they have to beat the competition at their own game. And a few brave souls are starting to hit the battlefield. Comcast just launched Fancast Xfinity TV, an on-demand service that has about 2,000 hours of content. The content is being provided by 30 cable networks, and includes full episodes of shows like “Crash”, “Glee”, and “Down Home with the Neelys”. There are also movies including “Dawn of the Dead”, “Hollywood Shuffle”, and “Hot Boyz”. Similar to iTunes, you have a limited number of computers (three) you can authorize to receive the service.

Currently you must subscribe to both Comcast’s cable and internet service to access the service. There’s no extra charge for the service. Comcast hopes to expand Xfinity to mobile devices, but it’s unlikely that will take place any time soon. This is a good first step for cable, but it still doesn’t address the question of high subscription fees. The reason the web has been so successful in usurping old media’s territory comes to finances. If a person can watch a full episode of a show on Hulu for free, why would they hook up with Comcast and pay. Even if Hulu and YouTube decide to start charging, it’s a sure bet that the price will be low enough that the cable companies will start to hemorrhage subscribers at an alarming rate.

It started about a month ago when the popular location-based social network foursquare posted that they were looking for sponsors for a charity event in NYC. Foursquare awards it’s users points for doing things in the real world like discovering new places, completing interesting tasks, and meeting new friends. This is also how you unlock badges. As points are accumulated, users can watch their progress on the foursquare leaderboard and compete city-to-city.

We’ve talked before about using foursquare for business. Foursquare tracks who frequents your business, how often, and what they do there. As a business owner, you can use this information to provide real world incentives to keep them coming back. A free beer for whoever is crowned foursquare mayor of your establishment, for instance.

It seems that the guys at foursquare saw the potential to leverage this relationship and give back to the community. By offering a few cents for each point added to the leaderboard, they could donate a pretty hefty amount of money to charity. The only thing needed was a sponsor. Thanks to Techies Give Back, foursquare was able to hook up with Pepsi to make this event a reality.

This week (starting last night, thru Sunday Dec 13 @ 11:59p), every point added to the foursquare leaderboard will be lead to Pepsi donating $0.04 to CampInteractive, an organization that helps empower inner-city youth through technology skills and mentoring.

In exchange for their generous contribution, the foursquare leaderboard will have a Pepsi skin for the duration of this charity event. Because you never know what can happen on foursquare, the cap is set at $10,000.

This is an excellent example of how social media can actual bring about social change. It’s actually a win for everyone involved:

• Pepsi gets some positive publicity
• foursquare gets positive publicity and potential increase in user interaction
• users enjoy competing and probably a few extra nights out to rack up extra points (to further the cause, of course)
• and CampInteractive gets $10,000

I love to see services that think outside the box. Another good example of this type of thinking is the United Against Malaria room on 12seconds, where users promote the cause by creating a quick video and pledging a donation.

What do you think about this foursquare charity event? Do you know of any other services doing something similar?

No one yet knows exactly what Web 3.0 is, but there are brilliant minds at work shaping and designing our internet future today. Social networking on steroids will most definitely be part of whatever evolves. Right now that conjures images of tweets beaming directly into my brain (a truly scary thought) or Facebook status updates popping up while I watch TV, like a social media picture in picture. We’re not far from that—a group in Europe is building systems that aren’t yet for your physical brain, but operate like a remote brain that receives info about your actions and pushes them out to your network.

Called social awareness, it takes what might be a tweet today—“About to whip up some @epicurious shrimp scampi—be back later, full and happy. Hope we love it!” and pushes it away from a device and into the physical environment of anyone you want to see it. See the red light? That can mean I’m busy making my shrimp scampi, so don’t bother me.

Before you read on, take a few minutes to watch this YouTube video from the Astra Project, , a collective of European researchers and organizations, who are building awareness systems. It’s fascinating to look at how our networked future is being laid out and tested, and gives a hint of what these instant connections can do. Copy in the video says, “This awareness information about the well-being, activities, and availability gives Vic (one of the participants) a direct feeling that he is in touch, sharing and involved with his daughter. We call this social awareness.”

I can see this having great application for people who want that direct connection, and aren’t able to achieve it physically. For example, families wanting to keep an eye on a parent with Alzheimer’s could use social awareness to instantly witness and monitor actions remotely, which could be a definite stress reliever (and guilt reducer) for people who have to work and can’t be with a sick relative 24/7 or pay for on site care.

Automation is an incredible resource and tool, but I question the need to include it in every facet of our lives. It’s a spontaneity and trust killer. And if privacy is almost out the window, social awareness kicks it out completely. Research shows that most people have limited understandings of basic privacy features of social networks, and that they tend to keep whatever default settings are in place when they sign up. I’m confident that the people who are most interested in social awareness aren’t in that category. They know how to change privacy settings, and that’s why I’m not sure how this will catch on with the general public. If people think Twitter is too much info, this will blow their minds.

I’m writing this story from San Francisco, in the neighborhood where Twitter, Six Apart, and Wired have offices, and I know at one point people questioned the viability and purpose of all of them, too. I know there is a purpose for social awareness that will continue to evolve as the networks are created and used, just like we’ve seen with social networks today. I’m not at all afraid of that future, but I want to see more attention paid to how we can develop our innate sense of self and connection with others, while using these tools to our greatest benefit. I would hate to think that my life is so tightly wound that I couldn’t call someone until they sent me the green light. If someone is busy, they don’t have to answer. I’ve been using this method for years, and trust me its foolproof. No detailed understanding of privacy requirements needed.