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IAC Eyes African American Market for Social Networking

IAC/InterActive Corp. on Wednesday said it plans to launch a new community site aimed at African Americans, coinciding with a larger social networking movement away from the mass chaos of MySpace toward better-targeted, smaller communities. The unnamed site won't launch until next January, but it will feature news, entertainment, advice and local business information, in addition to integrating several of IAC's 60-plus Internet brands, including Ticketmaster, dating site Match.com and the search engine Ask.com.

However, IAC won't be the first to try and corner the market. AOL's Black Voices, for example, is one of the early leaders, offering services like news, video, chat, and blogs. It attracts about 3 million monthly unique visitors, according to comScore Networks. Community Connect Inc.'s BlackPlanet.com is another competitor.

"This is a rich area and a great opportunity," says IAC Chief Executive Barry Diller. "Our brands cover a good part of the waterfront...and can be adapted for this audience specifically." Johnny Taylor, the new CEO of the IAC initiative, estimates that the group could include up 60 million Americans. Sixty-one percent of African Americans used the Web in 2006, versus 72 percent of Caucasians, according to JupiterResearch.

Read the whole story at The Wall Street Journal »

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