A browser just for blacks?
A new version of Mozilla has appeared, dubbed “Blackbird”. It’s a browser that offers features and content meant to appeal to members of the African-American (and possibly the African-Canadian) community.
A new version of Mozilla has appeared, dubbed "Blackbird". It’s a browser that offers features and content meant to appeal to members of the African-American (and possibly the African-Canadian) community.
The company that developed BlackBird - a group called 40A Inc, says that the browser is designed to
[...] make it easier to find African American related content on the Internet and to interact with other members of the African American community online by sharing stories, news, comments and videos.
Through the use of embedded tools such as "Black Search", Blackbird attempts to provide users with the best black content available on the web.
It’s a controversial idea, which has already stirred up a growing number of comments on the blog TechCrunch.
My initial reaction was fairly negative. Though I’m not black, I do belong to another ethnically distinct group. I shuddered at the idea of someone creating and then distributing a Jewish browser, so that folks like me can access the best of Jewish content on the web.
On the other hand, there are already plenty of web sites out there that do just that, but they typically focus on a specific activity like dating. Is an ethnically-targeted browser really any different?
I think so. Blackbird makes the assumption that the web itself can be filtered according to the tastes and interests of a specific ethnic audience. That’s a difficult and possibly dangerous assumption to make. I’m not sure how it’s even possible to determine a common set of interests, political views, humour, artistic preferences from someone’s skin colour or other ethnically-defining characteristic.
Moreover, users who choose to browse the web using Blackbird are essentially identifying themselves as black to every website they visit. An unintentional but significant lapse of privacy.
Ars Technica has a more in-depth look at the new software and spoke with its creator Ed Young, who addressed criticism that Blackbird is exclusionary:
"We call it an ‘identity browser,’" Young explained. "I could make a browser for the lovers of Warcraft. Would that be exclusionary of other people? No, I would just be bringing those people closer to the sites and resources that they are probably interested in."
Young makes a good point – there is a long history in the tech world of hardware and software being customized to reflect its users’s interests. As Ars points out, Blackbird isn’t even the first browser that’s been purpose-built to serve the needs of a specific group. A version of the social browser Flock called Gloss is designed just for women.
Now, I haven’t tried Blackbird, and clearly doing so would not give me a greater appreciation for how well the program achieves its goal – I’m just not part of its intended user base.
But if you are, and have tried Blackbird, please let us know what you think of the experience.
Please keep your comments respectful, I realize it’s a hot topic, but if you get nasty, you’ll be modded.
Update 1: After reading many of the comments below, I decided to download and use Blackbird. I agree with many of the comments that suggested I not render an opinion without first trying the product.
So here’s my take:
In terms of pure web-browsing functionality, Blackbird is indistinguishable from the other flavours of Mozilla, specifically Firefox. The most notable differences are:
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The inclusion of dedicated set of buttons:
These first two buttons provide quick access to email accounts and social networks like Facebook or MySpace. The "Share" button lets users who have signed up with Blackbird Networks share web pages with other members, which are then organized by category such as "National News" or "Politics". Think of it like a Digg or StumbleUpon but with a specific demographic of voters. Results can be seen in a tab that appears on the left side of the browser window. The "Video" button opens up a similar tab and gives users access to 15 "channels" of which only 5 are currently populated with content. Videos then play in the main browser window. Finally the "Give Back" button is a shortcut to the site "http://dogood.blackbirdhome.com/" which Blackbird calls the "Do Good Channel". It’s home to a collection of community service and causes and provides information on how users can get involved and participate. 40A says that "Blackbird will donate 10% of its 2009 revenue to charitable and educational organizations that are serving the African American community."
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The inclusion of a default "Black Search" option in the search bar. Searches conducted with this option simply take you to a custom Google search, which presumably has been tuned to include only sites that are considered in keeping with the African-American audience it caters to. Trying one of the suggested searches by a commenter on "firsts" yielded results from sites such as bet.com, blackplanet.com, ebonyjet.com and blackvoices.com.
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A pre-populated set of bookmarks called "Highly Recommended".
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A news ticker function which didn’t work for me, and also doesn’t appear to be customizable – the only options are "on" and "off".
It turns out there is little difference between Blackbird and any other browser in which someone who has taken the time to bookmark sites that have a specific theme or editorial approach.
Something that does set Blackbird apart from other browsers, is the inclusion of advertising in the bottom of the tabbed areas for video and sharing. Presumably this is what the creators are referring to when they note on the download site:
"Blackbird is free for you because it is supported by advertising and sponsorships. You don’t pay to use Blackbird."
Whether the notion of an ethno-centric browser is appealing to you or not, Blackbird is at best a mildly interesting approach to building a community. Savvy web users will be unimpressed by its limited feature set. The most compelling feature – the black search – doesn’t require Blackbird at all – you can access it here: http://www.blackbirdhome.com/search5.html using any browser you choose.
Filed Under: Computers & Software > Found on the Web > News > Web/Tech
Most white canadians like hockey, most black canadians like basketball? how can this not be geared toward their interests, stop being so politically correct
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Nick, please tell me you just forgot to include the
at the end of your comment
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yeah my only problem with this is that if there were a browser made called "whitebird" or something that had to do with only white people, it would get taken down immediately. or at least frowned upon big time. just a thought.
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If the "white" person advertised a browswer just for caucasians, there would be such an uproar and we would be labeled as racists.
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Im born african and I am Canadian does that make me a African Canadian? Also I am 100% white. Do they have a browser for just white people to?
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I am an Irish American and see nothing wrong with this product. If people want to have a browser that focuses on their culture and their interests what is wrong with that? Actually, I wish I could have a browser that customizes it's search to my profile. Rather, than a search engine that is controlled by industry.
Tim
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I am an Irish American and see nothing wrong with this product. If people want to have a browser that focuses on their culture and their interests what is wrong with that? Actually, I wish I could have a browser that customizes it's search to my profile. Rather, than a browser that is controlled by industry.
Tim
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Wow, next thing you know, there will be a special area at the back of the bus and in restaurants for blacks too. What happened to trying to eliminate segregation, sterotypes, and racism? And previous comments about what would happen if there was 'white' browser are dead on – there would be lawsuits like you wouldn't believe.
"…make it easier to find African American related content on the Internet and to interact with other members of the African American community online by sharing stories, news, comments and videos…"
You don't need a 'black' browser for these things… it's a marketing ploy and rather distasteful one in my opinion.
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I thought the Internet was colourless,religionless and genderless,who ever thought of this is trying to make a fortune on racism.
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eRacism – Same Stuff, New Method
I must agree wth Mike. This is simply a very tasteless marketing plan. It's like a white person (sorry no racism meant) opening up a tv channel to get the basketball matches, rap song, Tiger Woods and Obama. This is just one other strike by some hyper-capitalist people.
Now would it be okay if I started a new browser for white people that would give them better acces for american football, ice hockey and bacon? Or perhaps one for asians with more noodles and ping pong in the results? Or even camels and desert for arabs (had to drop that in so that my examples don't seem racist; i'm arab). The point I'm trying to get at is that our race does not determine our interests. I don't enjoy riding camels for example… In fact it feels quite odd. I wouldn't find it a very pleasant idea if someoen just started to make a browser to help me find some arab-linked content.
pecae out
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The reason that sites like are starting to pop up because everything is designed for white people by default. The problem is, whites take it for granted so this is why people are saying that if whites had a site like this it would be considered racist. It would be racist. If the white power structure had been more inclusive of women & diverse cultures, I wouldn't be blogging about this.
Andrew
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I don't really see how this will catch on. If you're only interested in ethnically specific content, odds are you probably already know where to find it, will be refered by a friend or a link on a page you already know, or it will be easy enough to find with a regular search. And who is always only interested in ethnically specific content to the point where they want their browser to filter out other stuff when they do a regular search?
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I think people are being a bit too quick to jump on the PC band-wagon here. I mean 40A was founded by 3 "African Americans" after all. Why villify them for merely making use of marketing data and demographics in tailoring a product for a particular target audience?
We all see special interest news in print media all time, bringing topics of interest for the Jewish, Black, Arab, Chinese, Irish, etc communities in which they serve.
The internet is certainly the next logical step and obviously some sort of tool would be needed to wade through that sheer mass of available data.
Also it's not like it's limiting these folks to a "Black Only" section of the Web but merely pointing out avenues of interest indicated by more or less marketing data and commuinty surveys.
It just seems to me that the "in" thing now is to be immediately offended by any business practice that caters to a specific group.
Use it if you like it, ignore it if you don't, like all business models it will succeed or fail based on it's marketing soundness. If they are accurate in their predictions of large Black appeal in this product it will take off, if not, back to the drawing board.
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so this is a browser for black people who are racist? I'm not seeing any major pro's of having something like this. I mean, if you had an on board search engine with that idea in mind as an add-on… sure, but this just seems a bit extreme.
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Let's not lose sight of the fact that this is a private enterprise using marketing data to provide something that it would appear some people are willing to use. It is not anything 'official' nor IMHO does it suggest or encourage racism. The market will decide if they decide to keep on with it or not and it hardly would make a blip on our collective conciousness if not for this article/new release.
Honestly, there are a myriad of culturally and/or ethnically focused websites, tools and services that you have never heard of or even care about. This is just another.
Like Elliot said, 'use it or ignore it'. It is beyond silliness to be offended or threatened by its mere existence. I'm sure it would be great for the site creators to make the 'talk show indignation' circuit and hoping to create their own tempest in a teapot.
This is a non-issue, just free entreprise and saavy news releasing
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Simon Cohen, it would probably be more constructive to actually try blackbird for yourself before writing about how non-constuctive it can be. Before instigating a conversation such as this, try it THEN write about it. Otherwise you risk just dissappearing into another usless voice in the blogosphere.
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@JJ: Read the article. Using the browser wouldn't serve any purpose – I'm not part of the group it was intended for. It would be like asking a PC user to evaluate a peripheral that was only meant for a Mac. That's also why I invited readers who _are_ part of the group to try it and provide their feedback.
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Why is it such a big deal anytime something is done with Black people in mind? If it was a browser for any other group, defined by ethnicity or otherwise such as Asians or Homosexuals, would there be such an uproar?
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This will certainly stir up some "that's racist" comments, just watch. The whole idea is ludicrous.
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Ok now people really just cause the browser is centered around black issues, and black culture does not mean that only black people can or should use it. I'm black and I have been a member on a site called Blackplanet for years now. I see plenty of white people and other races on the site and it is made that other races that enjoy "black culture" can enjoy the site. This browser is the same thing. I just downloaded it and you know what… I actually like it. Will I use it? maybe… Will it be my default browser? No. I think people are forgetting you are not limited to one broswer on a computer. Personally I have Google Crome, Firefox, IE and now Blackbird that I use for browsing (default IE). Blackbird may fly but to thing it will somehow take over for what is already out here amoung the black web users or divide people is ridiculous… it won't happen. I say Black, White, Jewish or whatever even if it's not for you try it you might like it and encourage some more unity by learning more about someone else.
A white only browser… go ahead make it but remember something… black people were oppressed and in many ways still feel oppressed… taking away our forms of unity are like taking away our songs of freedom. When most things are made in this world for white men and we see it through who advertisers choose for actors in commericals we don't need broswers for white men… but I'm sure a women's browser would be an idea that is accepted.
A black guy
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