The Black Informant | African American Commentary, News and Community Building

Beaming Online Services Toward Blacks

By BOB TEDESCHI

nytimes.com

CHEAP computers and Internet connections have helped people get online in greater numbers in recent years. Now Barry Diller’s IAC/InteractiveCorp wants to make money by helping minority groups connect more easily to specific sites.

IAC last week introduced a new search engine, Rushmore Drive, meant to give the black audience a quick way to find information that other search engines — including IAC’s own Ask.com — might bury beneath pages of less relevant results. The strategy will eventually extend to other ethnic groups, in what analysts said is the latest stab at diminishing Google’s dominance in the search market.

“It’s a good idea, especially since it’s extremely difficult to attack Google head on,” said Michael Goodman, an analyst with Yankee Group, a technology consulting firm. “You need to attack Google on the flanks, and this is a place where the market isn’t providing the most relevant search results.”

Rushmore Drive, which gets its name from the location of the building in Charlotte, N.C., where the Web site was originated, offers search results that, at first glance, border on stereotypes. A search query for “Thanksgiving recipes,” for instance, yields sites featuring recipes for sweet potato pie and collard greens. But according to Johnny Taylor, the chief executive of Rushmore Drive, the results are based on years of search data from IAC’s Ask division.

Rushmore Drive analyzed search results for 3,000 of the most popular search terms in areas with large black populations and found that when people in those areas searched for recipes, they were much more likely to click on pages with soul food. Those searching for hair products, dance, cars, fraternities and sororities also ended up on vastly different Web sites than people who lived in areas with smaller black populations.

Rushmore Drive moves the Web sites preferred by black people near the top of the search results. “It’s not just prefixing ‘black’ into the search query,” Mr. Taylor said. “It’s sound technology.” (more…)

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I checked out this site earlier this week and to tell you the truth, it was not too much different from the other Black search engines I have seen over the years. Contrary to what the creators are saying here, it still appears to be a Black filter for Google or Yahoo.

Still check it out

Rushmoredrive.com