On Black Search Engines

Apparently, there a couple earch engines that are claiming to be specifically for African Americans. They claim to “deliver a blend of mainstream search results plus a layer of more relevant search results influenced by the Black community.” They include Rushmore Drive , which launched in April 2008 and more recently Blackbird. I google-ed “black search engines” and became slightly horrified at the first result, blackwebportal (under the link to its website read: this site may harm your computer), so I quickly scrolled down the page in an attempt to avoid damage. As I continued my short and quite shallow inquiry into the presence of black search engines, I wonder: Do we need this? Is it really filling a void? I previewed the two sites mentioned above to see what it is they do that’s so relevant to the African American community, I haven’t decided what to make of them yet. Personally, I use google for all my internet search needs. Moving on, between the two, Rushmore drive gets my vote not so much for its superb search results but for the links to relevant content listed on its page (it’s now my homepage). Do we need it? I’m not sure yet…

~ by blackalumnus on January 2, 2009.