Podcasts Business Community Signal BlackPlanets Founder on Building Impactful Platforms and Communities

BlackPlanets Founder on Building Impactful Platforms and Communities

Published: Sept. 28, 2020, 9:30 a.m.

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\\u201cLet the people see what I have seen.\\u201d

This is what Mamie Till, the mother of Emmett Till, said when\\xa0she insisted on an open casket funeral for her brutally murdered son\\xa0in 1955. Photos of Emmett\\u2019s disfigured body circulated and encouraged many to join the civil rights movement.

Darnella Frazier is the teenager that caught George Floyd\\u2019s murder on camera and posted it to Facebook.\\xa0She later stated\\xa0\\u201cthat could\\u2019ve been one of your loved ones, and you would want to see the truth as well.\\u201d As the video circulated, it inspired protests across the country, and George Floyd\\u2019s name, image, and story, became a rallying cry against police brutality and systemic racism.

Our guest this week,\\xa0Prof. Omar Wasow, breaks down the thread between the power of these images even further: \\u201cWhat some of these videos do, what some of these images do, is they allow people who are outside to have a window in, to have a moment of empathy, to walk a few steps in the feet of somebody who might have suffered in some profound way.\\u201d

These images clearly have the power to create understanding and power movements. These victims of brutal and heartless crimes become our symbols for change, though we must not forget that they were people, that they were just trying to exist. For example, the protests that erupted after George Floyd\\u2019s murder have been twisted into\\xa0a completely unrelated conspiracy theory by QAnon.

Wasow, the founder of\\xa0BlackPlanet\\xa0and a professor whose research focuses on race, politics, and statistical methods, discusses how the internet gives a platform to those who might otherwise not have one, like Darnella Frazier, but also serves as fertile ground for dangerous groups like QAnon.\\xa0

Patrick and Omar also discuss:

  • The principles that made BlackPlanet a popular community for Black people of all generations and backgrounds
  • How BlackPlanet and other early social platforms inspired creativity amongst their users
  • The power and importance of documenting and sharing injustice

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If you enjoy our show, please know that it\\u2019s only possible with the generous support of our sponsors:\\xa0Vanilla, a one-stop shop for online community and\\xa0Localist, plan, promote, and measure events for your community.

Big Quotes

Wasow optimized BlackPlanet for the creativity of the community (5:38):\\xa0\\u201c[The] transformation from player to programmer was really powerful and changed the arc of my life. When we were designing BlackPlanet, that was something we really wanted to offer our users as well: The experience of going from being people who are just consumers of the web, to being creators and really having it be at core, a site where your creativity could flourish.\\u201d \\u2013@owasow

BlackPlanet brought the Black communities online (12:53): \\u201c[There were] all of these institutions that involved the Black community having deep ties to each other, [sororities, historically Black colleges and universities, Black churches], that didn\\u2019t have a home on the internet and that was something [BlackPlanet] could provide. \\u2026 It\\u2019s partly about making a site that was accessible, that was easy to use, that gave people lots of ways to express themselves. It also was a site that could be used in different ways by different people.\\u201d \\u2013@owasow

What communities and dance floors have in common (31:22): \\u201cThere\\u2019s a seeding function, which is getting people into the community and getting a critical mass. I used to think of it as a dance floor. You\\u2019re running a social site; if it\\u2019s an empty dance floor, that\\u2019s not a place that\\u2019s going to thrive, but if you can get a packed dance floor, that\\u2019s awesome.\\u201d \\u2013@owasow

Will social media platforms give users tools to craft their own experiences? (31:57):\\xa0\\u201cIf you give people more tools to manage the experience, you can take off some of the responsibility of being the moderator.\\u201d \\u2013@owasow

How videos like the one showing the murder of George Floyd can ignite a movement and lead to social change (35:00):\\xa0\\u201cIf we have these siloed identities, it can mean that we don\\u2019t actually have a lot of understanding of people who live in different worlds. What some of these videos do, what some of these images do, is they allow people who are outside to have a window in, to have a moment of empathy, to walk a few steps in the feet of somebody who might have suffered in some profound way.\\u201d \\u2013@owasow

Why documentation of protests and injustice is important (35:25): \\u201cIf I\\u2019m a protester, if I\\u2019m an activist, [I think] like a camera. What is the moment that will be documented, that could be shared more widely, that allows people outside of this particular moment to have some sense of the larger injustice we\\u2019re trying to draw attention to?\\u201d \\u2013@owasow

How the internet provides fertile ground for dangerous groups like QAnon (44:49): \\u201c[The] capacity for outsiders to gain voice and win is a really valuable part of the internet. At the same time, what we\\u2019ve seen both in politics and media is that the absence of gatekeepers has this real downside.\\u201d \\u2013@owasow

About Omar Wasow

Omar Wasow\\xa0is an assistant professor in Princeton\\u2019s department of politics. His research focuses on race, politics, and statistical methods.\\xa0His paper\\xa0on the political consequences of the 1960s civil rights movement was published in the American Political Science Review. His co-authored work on estimating causal effects of race was published in the Annual Review of Political Science. Before joining the Academy, Professor Wasow served as a regular on-air technology analyst and was the co-founder of\\xa0BlackPlanet, a social network he helped grow to over three million active users.

In 2003, he helped found a high performing K-8 charter school in Brooklyn. He is a recipient of the National Science Foundation\\u2019s Graduate Research Fellowship in the Aspen Institute\\u2019s Henry Crowne fellowship. He received a PhD in African American Studies, a master\\u2019s in government, and a master\\u2019s in statistics from Harvard University.

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Your Thoughts

If you have any thoughts on this episode that you\\u2019d like to share, please leave me a comment,\\xa0send me an email\\xa0or a\\xa0tweet. If you enjoy the show, we would be so grateful if you spread the word and supported\\xa0Community Signal on Patreon.

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