Based on the current trajectory of my practicum project, I am feeling a little all over the place when it comes to the information that I am getting and sharing. I found myself wondering, what do African Americans really want? They want separate sites, but then they fail because no one uses them. When they are on popular sites with everyone else, they are either offended by the content or still don't feel like they are getting what they need out of it. Like magic, my friends at Black Web 2.0 popped up on my Google search with an article conveniently titled, "The Internet: What do African Americans Really Want?" Sound familiar? Yes, because I just asked that same question.
They described African Americans as posing "unique challenges and opportunities" on the internet. On one hand, African Americans are using mobile internet more than any other ethnic group. African American topics trend the most on Twitter, and African Americans responsive to having their brands and media outlets create apps for their phones. HOWEVER, less than 50% of African Americans have broadband internet in their homes, and apps that are created have poor numbers. This is quite the conundrum.
I was glad to see that they shared my perspective on African Americans' internet usage. The person who wrote this article is afraid that African Americans will become the "digital underclass"--being left behind. They also mentioned the digital divide, but I still don't know what that is. The problem is that everything about African Americans and the internet is an anomaly. That is what I have gathered so far from my research, and it was comforting to see that African American technology experts agree with me. They want African Americans to be more clear about what they want, and African American businesses, entrepreneurs, media outlets, etc to cater to their needs a bit more than they currently are. There is a large market here, if someone can get it right.
I think you pose a very interesting dilemma. I think it's certainly a problem if the business side of African American media doesn't even listen to the consumers' wants and needs. I think making internet in the home more affordable would be a good start. Businesses can't say they're listening to AA audiences if they only go halfway. Yeah, they created the app but if none of them can use it, then what's the point? Same thing with the AA-specific websites. They create them for the communities but don't do anything to publicize it.
ReplyDeleteAnd there is the ultimate debate of what the AA group wants. I think that issue comes down to the category being too broad. That's like saying all people deemed white want the same thing. Of course, the scale is larger, but it's still not something often done. European people have very distinct desires from us and we're treated as individual groups. And I'm not even talking about just people in Europe - also people that live here that consider themselves of a more specific ethnic group, i.e. German. Perhaps we need to look at the different ways of identification so we can make everyone happy. Some AA people prefer African American, some prefer Black, others may prefer dark skinned or some sort of mixed identity. It's hard to cater to one race that is really numerous ethnic groups.