Rushmore Drive: An Ethnic Targeted Search Engine

rushmore 

A few days ago, I found a link to Rushmore Drive, a search engine for African-Americans, or whatever the politically correct term might be, from Stereohyped in a posted entitled "Have You Been Waiting For An Ethnic Search Engine?"
   

Smiley-Angry-256x256 Appalled? Hell yes! So does this mean Google or Yahoo are  "white" or Caucasian or whatever the politically correct term is, search engines?! Since when did I start looking for search results based on the color of my skin?! NOT EVER!

Since when did anyone start looking for search results based on the color of their skin? I’m not referring to research, I’m referring to casual search results. I don’t type ‘Twitter’ into Google looking for people with the same skin color and I never would.

I was even more surprised that not only was this in the NYT, but it’s also owned by Ask.com.

From the NYT article:

“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.”

You’re not attacking Google at all, Goodman! Racially relevant search results are the least of Google’s worries. And relevant?! Don’t. Make. Me. Laugh.

Another quote:

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.”

How about I sound off my foot somewhere you probably wouldn’t like it?

Ugh, this is so degrading to the African-American community. I honestly think it’s feeding into stereotypes. While the search results for certain terms such as ‘Twitter’ aren’t that bad, type in any stereotypical term associated with the African-American community and you’ll get an entirely different world.

What do you think?

Corvida Raven

A natural pioneer at grasping the rapidly changing landscape of technology, Corvida Raven talks tech in plain English on SheGeeks.net.